New Satellite Images Reveal The Extent Of Destruction Of Uttarakhand Glacier Tragedy
On February 7, flash floods hit parts of Uttarakhand's Chamoli district damaging among other structures an NTPC Hydro Power Project on the river Dhauli Ganga. Now, two days later, satellite images reveal the extent of the damage caused to the 480 MW Tapovan-Vishnugad hydropower plant and the 13.2 MW under-construction Rishiganga Hydel Project.
Images show path of destruction
High resolution images indicate the clearest ever sequence of events leading up to the glacier burst, which left 30 dead and over 170 missing.?Before and after images with fairly incredible clarity show the magnitude of the avalanche.
An image from February 6 shows an ice and snow covered ridge line, a part of the Trishala glacier. But after the avalanche, on February 8, an entire chunk of ice is missing.
The satellite images suggest that the majority of the hydropower project has been clogged by the extensive silt caused by the powerful downstream landslide.
Similar changes are seen in an area a few kilometres from where the avalanche was triggered. The area was snowed under but after the avalanche, the impact is visible. On the day of the quake, a massive chunk of ice and snow just disappeared.
River became a stream of brown mud
The river near the Tapovan hydel plant, which was washed away, was a narrow stream of green-coloured water on February 6. On February 8, it became a broad river of brown mud.
On February 6, the day before the avalanche, the Tapovan hydel plant could be seen. That is where the avalanche would hit a day later. The path of the landslide and dust are clearly visible in the images. On February 8, after the dust clears up, it is all a field of debris.
Experts believe a block of rock, with some ice, dropped almost two kilometres before hitting the valley floor, generating a huge rock and ice avalanche, which raced down the glacier at a high speed. The images indicate that on the way, it generated a vast quantity of dust that was smeared on the valley side.
"Appears to be a complete detachment of a previously glaciated slope," posted Scott Watson.
The rock avalanche will have generated a huge amount of heat and will have induced fragmentation, experts say. The ice was likely crushed and melted, which caused the landslide to transition to a flow of debris.
