Global warming, glacial lakes and cloud burst events in Garhwal-Kumaon Himalaya: A hypothetical analysis

Cloud Burst in Garwal-Kumaon Himalaya, in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, is a common phenomenon. Cloud Burst is a massive downpour associating with flashflood, landslide, and earth flow that causes enough devastation in mountain areas. However, in recent years the frequency of this event has been increased tremendously. One of the important causes of frequent cloud burst is faster evaporation rate from high altitude glacial lakes. The mean temperature of the Earth has been increased 0.75° C during last century due to global warming, resulting faster destruction of mountain or valley glacier. This phenomenon is already witnessed in Himalaya where glacier and glacial lakes are changing alarmingly. Glacier retreating rate in Himalaya is 10 to 60 m per year. A well number of small glacier (<0.2 sq km) have already disappeared. This glacier melts water and lake comes direct contact with clouds due to higher altitude, create favorable condition of cloud burst in high altitude areas of Uttarakhand. This paper is a Geographical approach to study the Cloud Burst events in Garwal-Kumaon Himalaya highlighting the role of glacier melt water and high altitude lakes on this catastrophic event.