@article{cd9567f5143046d5b8f581132306087a,
title = "A massive rock and ice avalanche caused the 2021 disaster at Chamoli, Indian Himalaya",
abstract = "On 7 Feb 2021, a catastrophic mass flow descended the Ronti Gad, Rishiganga, and Dhauliganga valleys in Chamoli, Uttarakhand, India, causing widespread devastation and severely damaging two hydropower projects. Over 200 people were killed or are missing. Our analysis of satellite imagery, seismic records, numerical model results, and eyewitness videos reveals that ~27x106 m3 of rock and glacier ice collapsed from the steep north face of Ronti Peak. The rock and ice avalanche rapidly transformed into an extraordinarily large and mobile debris flow that transported boulders >20 m in diameter, and scoured the valley walls up to 220 m above the valley floor. The intersection of the hazard cascade with downvalley infrastructure resulted in a disaster, which highlights key questions about adequate monitoring and sustainable development in the Himalaya as well as other remote, high-mountain environments.",
author = "Shugar, {D. H.} and M. Jacquemart and D. Shean and S. Bhushan and K. Upadhyay and A. Sattar and W. Schwanghart and S. McBride and {de Vries}, {M. Van Wyk} and M. Mergili and A. Emmer and C. Deschamps-Berger and M. McDonnell and R. Bhambri and S. Allen and E. Berthier and Carrivick, {J. L.} and Clague, {J. J.} and M. Dokukin and Dunning, {S. A.} and H. Frey and S. Gascoin and Haritashya, {U. K.} and C. Huggel and A. K{\"a}{\"a}b and Kargel, {J. S.} and Kavanaugh, {J. L.} and P. Lacroix and D. Petley and S. Rupper and Azam, {M. F.} and Cook, {S. J.} and Dimri, {A. P.} and M. Eriksson and D. Farinotti and J. Fiddes and Gnyawali, {K. R.} and S. Harrison and M. Jha and M. Koppes and A. Kumar and S. Leinss and U. Majeed and S. Mal and A. Muhuri and J. Noetzli and F. Paul and I. Rashid and K. Sain and J. Steiner and F. Ugalde and Watson, {C. S.} and Westoby, {M. J.}",
note = "This work was supported by Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Government of the Federal Republic of Germany (AM), Centre National d{\textquoteright}{\'E}tudes Spatiales internal funding (EB), Centre National d{\textquoteright}{\'E}tudes Spatiales, Programme National de T{\'e}l{\'e}d{\'e}tection Spatiale PNTS-2018-4 (SG), CIRES Graduate Research Fellowship (MJ), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India (AKumar, KS), European Space Agency CCI program and EarthExplorer10 4000123681/18/I-NB, 4000109873/14/I-NB, 4000127593/19/I-NS, 4000127656/19/NL/FF/gp (AK{\"a}{\"a}b), European Space Agency Glaciers CCI+ 4000127593/19/I-NB (FP), Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology 80NSSC19K1338 (SB), ICIMOD core funds (JS), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) 04207-2020 (DHS), NASA Cryosphere 80NSSC20K1442 (UKH, JSK), NASA High Mountain Asia Team (HiMAT-1) 80NSSC19K0653 (UKH, JSK, DHS), NASA High Mountain Asia Team (HiMAT-2) 80NSSC20K1594 (SR), NASA High Mountain Asia Team (HiMAT-2) 80NSSC20K1595 (DES), NASA Interdisciplinary Research in Earth Science 80NSSC18K0432 (UKH, JSK), Roshydromet R&D Plan, Theme 6.3.2 AAAA-A20-120031990040-7 (MD), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) 7F-08954.01.03 (SA, HF, CH), Swiss National Science Foundation 200020_179130 (JF), Swiss National Science Foundation, project “Process-based modelling of global glacier changes (PROGGRES)”, Grant Nr. 200021_184634 (DF), Swiss Federal Excellence Postdoc Award (AS). Copyright {\textcopyright} 2021, American Association for the Advancement of Science.",
year = "2021",
month = jul,
day = "16",
doi = "10.1126/science.abh4455",
language = "English",
volume = "373",
pages = "300--306",
journal = "Science (New York, N.Y.)",
issn = "0036-8075",
publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",
number = "6552",
}
