Roopkund lake

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As of 2024

Shivani Azad, Oct 14, 2024: The Times of India

Dehradun: Climate change is believed to be impacting one of Uttarakhand’s foremost trekking destinations, Roopkund Lake, situated 16,500ft above sea level at the base of Mt Trishul in the Garhwal Himalayas. Known as the “lake of skeletons”, the glacial body conceals hundreds of human skeletons — some with preserved flesh — which become visible when the snow melts in the area.


The lake caught the world’s imagination after a forest official, HK Madhwal, stumbled upon the presence of human bones in its frozen waters in 1942. Since then, many theories have been propounded on the skeletons’ origin. A 2019 study by scientists from India, the US and Germany debunked the popular theory that the skeletons were of a single group that died in one catastrophic event. Instead, it claimed the individuals were genetically diverse, and their deaths separated by as much as 1,000 years.


What is now worrying forest officials, who have been deployed in that area for over two decades, is that the lake — spread over an area of around two acres and has a depth of around 9ft — is shrinking.


Divisional forest officer (DFO) of Badrinath forest division in Chamoli, Sarvesh Dubey, said, “The lake is shrinking in width and depth by about 0.1% to 0.5% annually. Traditionally, the area around Roopkund would experience snow flurries during rainfall, but now rain is more common, causing loose moraine to slide down into the lake. We believe this shift in precipitation pattern is directly linked to climate change and global warming, which is altering the natural balance of the region.”


He added: “We are reac- hing out to experts at Forest Research Institute and Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) for solutionsas this year saw excess rainfall and consequently, more silting.”


Glaciologists also attributed the shift in precipitation patterns to climate change and global warming. 
Senior glaciologist at WIHG, Dehradun, Manish Mehta, said, “According to the glacier inventory made by WIHG in 2013, we have around 1,200 lakes in the region. These are classified either as pro-glacial lakes, because they are located at the snout (front edge) of a glacier, or peri-glacial lakes, as they lie on the periphery (sides) of the glacier. Roopkund is a peri-glacial lake, and due to climate variations, the Himalayas are experiencing both decrease and increase in snow precipitation. In this case, it seems that reduced precipitation has led to the flow of unconsolidated loose moraine material into the lake, resulting in a reduction in both the lake’s volume and its area.”


Scientists believe that this phenomenon could lead to the greening of areas at high altitudes and also increased heat in the region.