As ice frozen for millennia thaws, Kashmir wakes up to new risks Premium

Permafrost melting in Kashmir Himalaya poses environmental threats, affecting roads, households, lakes, and hydropower projects, as per new study.

Permafrost melting is emerging as a unique environmental threat in the Kashmir Himalaya. A new study has found that thawing permafrost could affect 193 km of roads, 2,415 households, 903 alpine lakes, and eight hydropower projects in the mountainous region. 

Permafrost is any type of ground — soil, sediment, rock, etc. — that has been continuously frozen for at least two years. Most of the permafrost on the earth has been that way for several millennia.

But with global warming, the permafrost is slowly beginning to thaw, with dramatic consequences. Permafrost stores several tonnes of organic carbon. As it melts, the carbon is released into the environment, including in the form of methane, a very potent greenhouse gas and climate pollutant.

The stability of permafrost in the Indian Himalaya is thus of great concern.

The new study, published in Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment, was coauthored by researchers from the University of Kashmir and IIT-Bombay.

According to the study, permafrost covers 64.8% of the total geographic area of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) and Ladakh. Of this 26.7% is continuous permafrost (most of the soil is frozen), 23.8% is discontinuous (more than half of the soil is frozen), and 14.3% is sporadic (intermittent patches of frozen soil).

“Region-wise, the Ladakh plateau contains the highest extent (87%) of permafrost, while the foothill plains of Jammu, Shigar Valley, and Siwaliks do not host any permafrost,” the authors wrote in their paper.