Simulation of Glacial Avalanche Hazards in Shyok Basin of Upper Indus

Glacial avalanche hazards can threaten lives and damage infrastructures in high altitude mountainous regions. In April 2012 a gigantic ice plus rock avalanche destroyed military camp at Gyari and killed 139 persons. Antecedent, the objectives of this study are to simulate and model Gyari camp glacial avalanche with reference to its extent, height, momentum, velocity and pressure and, to simulate and model the other potential glacial avalanche prone areas in Shyok basin. To simulate the Gyari camp glacial hazard and other potential glacial avalanche hazards, an empirical process based Glacier Avalanche Model; Rapid Access Mass Movement Simulation (RAMMS) is used. The RAMMS model encompasses the variables like avalanche release height and release area for the conduct of simulation. The model output of Gyari glacial avalanche hazard resulted from a max pressure of 2500 KPa, max velocity of 90 m/s, and the max flow height of 40 m, while the resulted output debris volume calculated was 4.3145 million m³. The calibrated agreement was found in extent and height of actual debris in comparison with RAMMS simulated output. The potential hazardous glacial avalanche prone areas of Shyok basin were simulated by RAMMS model after the model being calibrated to the actual incident of Gyari. The study has resulted in identifying the Siachen glacier conflict zone being more prone to avalanche hazards because of host factors in general and the anthropogenic factor in particular.