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List out the causative factors and the impacts of Glacial lakes outburst floods in India. Suggest some measures to mitigate its impacts.
List out the causative factors and the impacts of Glacial lakes outburst floods in India. Suggest some measures to mitigate its impacts.
Glacial lakes outburst floods:
- It is the floods caused due to outburst of glacial lakes. The Himalayan states like Uttarakhand, Sikkim are surrounded by about 200 potentially dangerous glacial lakes formed by glacial melt.
Causative factors:
- Glacial retreat in the wake of Global warming.
- Rapid slope movement into the lake.
- Severe flood disasters due to unpredictable and erratic monsoon.
- Human activities like mass tourism, road construction etc.
- Black carbon deposition over the glaciers (decreases its albedo)
- Other factors include earthquakes, long term dam degradation etc.
Impacts:
- cause catastrophic societal impacts for nearby communities.
- change ocean circulation patterns by reducing the salinity of the ocean surface.
- trigger changes in local and to some extent regional climate patterns.
- negatively impact geomorphology through stream erosions, meandering shifts etc.
Measures:
- Access to early warning systems should be improved.
- Continuous monitoring of changing dynamics of Himalayas for hazard mapping.
- Creating infrastructures like dams, tunnels, concrete outflows, flood protection walls.
- Other measures like identifying vulnerable communities and community awareness.
Conclusion:
- Preventing glacial lake outburst floods is so vital for ensuring our water security and the very lives of Indians living around the western Himalayan regions.
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