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Tuesday, December 10, 2024  
08 Jumada Al-Akhirah 1446  

Sanober, Booni Gole glaciers may outburst, cause damages: Chief Met

Chief Meteorologist, Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), Dr. Ghulam Rasul said the alarming situation of glacier melting and expected outbursts of Sanober and Booni Gole glaciers in Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could cause loss to lives and damage infrastructure.Talking to app, Dr. Ghulam Rasul said Sanober glacier is a hanging mountain glacier which has no connection with the valley base. The lower part is staying on the edge of the mountain facing north with a steep slope of about 60 degrees. It is a small glacier about 800m long and 50m wide.

Chief Meteorologist, who visited the glaciers recently to investigate the potential danger of glaciers outburst, said a large cut developed about 50m above the lower end of the glacier and produced huge surge during last summer and moved loads of debris on its way to the human settlement and fruit orchards downstream, however, people have again settled on the glacier pathway.
In his report on the present condition of glaciers, potential risk of their outburst and consequent damage, the Chief Met said that outburst is very likely even without rainfall as the transverse crevice will increase in width due to high summer temperatures.
A huge volume of ice/water carrying debris is likely to flow with large speed on a steep slope of 45 to 60 degrees. The settlement on glacier flow path is at high risk which should immediately be moved to a safer zone, he recommended.