Desk Correspondent , Dehradun - A groundbreaking study warns that climate change is destabilizing "hanging glaciers" in the Himalayas, particularly in Uttarakhand's Alaknanda basin, increasing the threat of catastrophic disasters. Researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, and the Defence Geoinformatics Research Establishment have mapped 219 such precarious ice formations perched on steep slopes, with about 30% concentrated in the Upper Alaknanda region near sacred sites like Badrinath. Published on April 17, 2026, in Nature's Natural Hazards journal, the paper highlights how accelerated warming outpacing global averages has severed these tributary glaciers from their main trunks, leaving them vulnerable to collapse.

These unstable hanging glaciers can trigger cascading hazards, including avalanches, rock-ice falls, and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), endangering expanding human settlements below. The study notes a 616% surge in built-up areas over five decades in the basin, shrinking agricultural land by 57% and barren land by 33%, with projections showing exposed populations rising from 380 to 8,500 by 2030 as infrastructure sprawls from 8,000 sqm in 2000 to 152,000 sqm. Past events like the 2021 Chamoli disaster and 2025 Dharali flash floods in Uttarkashi which is linked to a vulnerable hanging glacier on the Kheer Ganga channel with a 1 cubic km volume this underscore the peril, where sudden icefalls caused rapid, high-volume runoffs unlike gradual rain-induced floods.

Experts like Anil V. Kulkarni from IISc's Divecha Centre emphasize the urgency for planners to use this geospatial dataset for safer development and community resilience in high-altitude zones. Hanging glaciers' sensitivity to early surface melt amplifies summer risks amid tourism peaks, while historical data reveals 681 avalanches over 50 years in High-mountain Asia, claiming over 3,100 lives. The findings call for proactive monitoring to avert repeats of tragedies fueled by both nature's fragility and human encroachment.