Glaciologist digs deep into permafrost to gauge future disasters

Glaciologist S.N. Remya studies permafrost collapse in the Himalayas to provide early warnings for local communities.

Possible collapse of permafrost, which are permanently frozen rock or soil formations, is an emerging climate-change induced issue in the upper reaches of the Himalayas. Glaciologist S.N. Remya from Kerala, who is part of this year’s Indian Arctic Expedition, currently based at the Himadri research station in Norway, says that her work is aimed at identifying the probability of disasters due to permafrost collapse and help provide early warnings to local communities.

“Soil or rock that remains frozen for atleast two consecutive years is considered as permafrost. Underneath the surface, there would be regions of ice. Due to global warming, this layer of ice will melt leading to a permafrost thaw, causing fluctuations or collapse of the ground. There have been cases in Canada and other places where buildings or other infrastructure have collapsed. We still do not have proof whether permafrost had a role to play in some of the disasters in the Himalayas and it is something that has to be studied,” says Remya, from the Himadri station, hosted by the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) at the International Arctic Research base in Ny-Alesund.

Her objective in the Arctic is to study these features more closely, as permafrost areas are more accessible in those regions, and apply these findings to the Himalayas, which has similar topography and climate.

“I have conducted studies in a rock glacier located closer to our station. We still don’t have much knowledge about permafrost in the Indian Himalayas. One of the reasons for the bursting of the South Lhonak glacial lake and flooding in Sikkim could have been this. There are a lot of data gaps, which have to be addressed. Once the study here is complete, we can use satellite imagery to map areas of similar topography in the Himalayas. Finally, the aim is to use the knowledge to create awareness among the local communities in these regions for early warnings and long term infrastructure planning,” she says.

One of the issues she faced during the research in the Arctic was the presence of polar bears. Due to this, she went to the field in the company of a guard with a gun. “No cooking is allowed in the station, as the smell could attract polar bears. So we have to make do with packaged food and a microwave, with the food supplies arriving every month in a ship,” says Remya, an Assistant Professor at Amrita University.

The other Keralites in the Indian Arctic Expedition this year are Felix M. Philip from Jain University, who is leading a biodiversity assessment and monitoring in the Norwegian Arctic using advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based tools, and Anupama Jims from Chinmaya Vishwa Vidyapeeth University, who is developing a non-invasive, AI-enabled system for counting and classifying zooplankton, enhancing the understanding of Arctic marine ecosystems.