PSI Senior Scientist Jeffrey Kargel was among the authors on a paper that was awarded the G.K. Gilbert Award for Excellence in Geomorphological Research for 2022 by the American Association of Geographers. The award is presented to the author(s) of a single significant contribution to the published research literature in geomorphology during the past three years.
The paper cited for the award is “A massive rock and ice avalanche caused the 2021 disaster at Chamoli, Indian Himalaya” published in Science. Daniel Shugar is lead author.
The paper describes the cascade of events starting with a rock-ice landside in Uttarakhand state in India in February 2021 that damaged two hydroelectric plants and resulted in more than 200 people killed or missing. A massive rock and ice avalanche roared down the Himalayan valley, turning into a deadly debris flow upstream from the first of the two hydropower plants. The sequence of events highlights the increasing risk in the Himalayas caused by increased warming and development.
Kargel said the paper was used in the judicial environment in India, on up to the state Supreme Court, related to a class action lawsuit pertaining to what is alleged to be reckless and illegal development of hydropower in that valley where the disaster occurred.
One of Kargel’s chief contributions to the paper was about the mechanism of conversion of gravitational potential energy to thermal energy, causing the nearly complete melting of a glacier that had collapsed along with rock. “Where else on Earth or even Mars might this mechanism produce liquid water and even floods of it, or liquid hydrocarbons on icy moons?” Kargel said.
Hanging glaciers are a key to Chamoli-type events. Here, a hanging glacier in the foreground and a smaller one perched near the summit loom above a valley near Thulagi Lake, Nepal. If Chamoli taught us one thing, it is that small, innocuous-seeming glaciers cannot be ignored. That disaster provides clues to other situations that may generate similar debris-flow and flood-inducing avalanches. However, these small glaciers may lack the conditions needed for such an event. Credit: Jeffrey Kargel/PSI.
