Recent study published in Nature magazine has found that there are as many as 219 hanging glaciers in the Alaknanda basin of the Garhwal Himalayas.
About Hanging Glaciers:
Hanging glaciers are ice masses perched on steep slopes that can detach and trigger massive avalanches.
Formation:
They occur when a major valley glacier system retreats and thins, leaving the tributary glaciers in smaller valleys high above the shrunken central glacier surface.
If the entire system has melted and disappeared, the empty high valleys are called hanging valleys.
Impact of Hanging Glaciers:
Hanging glaciers pose a significant risk of break-offs.
The break-offs from hanging glaciers can also trigger secondary hazards such as glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs).
Glaciers in high-elevation alpine environments are highly sensitive to climate variability and warming.
This sensitivity is particularly pronounced in the Himalaya, where warming over the past two decades has exceeded the global average, resulting in accelerated glacier retreat.
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