Rising temperatures accelerating the melting rate of Himalayan glaciers, leading to devastating floods, are of great concern to scientists.

On Sunday, February 7, a flash flood swept through the Chamoli district of the Uttarakhand state in northern India, killing over 36 people. Hydroelectric power plants in the area were destroyed by the rapid floodwaters and rescue missions are currently underway to find over 168 missing people, including those trapped inside a tunnel near one of the hydropower sites. The floods are presumed to have been triggered by the partial collapse of the Nanda Devi glacier in the Himalayas, which overflowed the River Ganga and other nearby rivers.

In 2013, flash floods in the region destroyed nearby villages and claimed the lives of at least 6,000, leaving around 70,000 people stranded.

As questions arise over what triggered a Himalayan glaciers to collapse in the month of February, some experts pointed to climate change as the contributing factor. Rising temperatures accelerating the melting rate of Himalayan glaciers, leading to devastating floods, are of great concern to scientists.

A 2019 study using satellite images from the Cold War era compared glacial coverage in the Himalayas over the decades. According to the report, the glaciers melted by about 8.6 inches per year from 1975 to 2000. However, the melting rate of the Himalayan glaciers in recent years has grown. Between 2000 and 2016, the glaciers melted by around 16.9 inches per year, effectively doubling since 2000.

Another point of concern is the construction of hydroelectric power plants in a region already seeing the effects of climate change and global warming. While hydropower plants do play a beneficial role in India’s shift away from its dependency on fossil fuels, the process of constructing these large-scale projects is damaging to the environment.

“In this Himalayan area, there are 10,000 big and small glaciers so we should be very careful about building any development projects in this ecologically fragile region, especially as climate change makes it even more fragile,” stated Hridayesh Joshi, author of the book Rage of the River.

Originally published at IR Insider