ANNOUNCEMENTS
Glacial Lakes are water bodies which are formed in depressions left by retreating glaciers or in moraines. Usually, these lakes are fed by water from the nearby parent glacier. Usually, Glacial Lakes which are located on the surface of the glacier can be mapped utilizing satellite data, but there are certain type of lakes such as Englacial and Subglacial lakes require ground based instruments as they stay undetected from aerial or optical satellite data. These lakes may pose a serious threat to life and property in case of any bursting. In this study, an updated inventory of Uttarakhand for the year 2023 has been created followed by the assessment of Potential Critical Glacial Lakes (PCGL’s). For this the study region was divided into 6 Sub basins and area above 3000m amsl was considered to map the lakes, a total of 335 lakes were mapped which is highest among all the previous inventories of Uttarakhand. 4 satellite driven parameters were used for preliminary screening, using which 36 lakes were further considered for quantitative assessment. 6 quantitative parameters were derived for the 36 screened lakes and the Unequal Weight Method was used to Prioritize the lakes according to their criticality and vulnerability. Based on criticality, 10 lakes were considered as highly critical and for vulnerability it was range specific and differed according to the range.
