{"id":15699,"date":"2025-11-06T11:43:27","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T11:43:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glofca.org\/?post_type=news&#038;p=15699"},"modified":"2025-11-27T09:20:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T09:20:32","slug":"major-collapse-of-the-dehdal-glacier-an-indicator-of-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/glofca.org\/en\/news\/major-collapse-of-the-dehdal-glacier-an-indicator-of-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Major collapse of the Dehdal Glacier"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On 25 October 2025, at around 11:00 a.m., a large ice mass collapsed from the Dehdal Glacier (formerly known as Dedal), located on the northern slopes of the Peter the First Range, near the village of Safedobi in Tajikabad District.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Committee for Emergency Situations and Civil Defence under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, a section of the glacier, approximately 2 km long, 25 m high, and 150\u2013200 m wide, broke off and slid down the valley. By 14:00, the situation had stabilized, and no casualties or serious damage were reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the second collapse of the Dehdal Glacier in recent months. Kamoliddin Nazirzoda, Deputy Head of the Glaciology Centre of the Agency for Hydrometeorology of Tajikistan, explained:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>\u201cThe activity of the Dehdal Glacier this year can be described as abnormal \u2014 no one expected a surge. This glacier is listed among the representative glaciers, and our Centre assessed its condition in 2020 and 2024. According to those studies, there were no signs of an imminent surge; we expected it in 25\u201330 years. However, this year two surges occurred in a row: the first on 18\u201319 September, when the glacier advanced more than 4 km, and the second at the end of October, when the ice mass moved another 5 km down the valley. Satellite images show that the activity had already started in early September.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"max-width:800px; margin:24px auto;\">\n  <video controls style=\"width:100%; height:auto;\">\n    <source src=\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/planet-t2\/didal-glacier-collapses-2025-tajikistan-navN7YgDR\/movie.mp4\" type=\"video\/mp4\">\n    Your browser does not support the video tag.\n  <\/video>\n  <div style=\"font-size:12px; color:#666; margin-top:4px; text-align:center;\">\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planet.com\/stories\/didal-glacier-collapses-2025-tajikistan-navN7YgDR\" target=\"_blank\"\n       style=\"color:#666; text-decoration:none;\"\n       onmouseover=\"this.style.textDecoration='underline';\"\n       onmouseout=\"this.style.textDecoration='none';\">\n      Timelapse of Dehdal Glacier collapses by Evan Miles\n    <\/a>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About the glacier<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Dehdal Glacier originates at an altitude of 4,600 metres above sea level and is a surge-type (or pulsating) glacier, whose movement occurs roughly every 40\u201345 years, according to the Glaciology Centre of the Agency for Hydrometeorology. Previous active phases of Dehdal were recorded in 1902, 1922, 1974, and 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Kamoliddin Nazirzoda, the glacier\u2019s dynamics are directly linked to climatic conditions \u2014 namely, the amount of precipitation and snow accumulation in its feeding area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>\u201cAfter analyzing meteorological data from the past five years, we found that from late spring to early autumn this year, there was almost no precipitation, while temperatures remained high. This led to the degradation of the glacier\u2019s structure. Another contributing factor was seismic activity. Several earthquakes were recorded in the area this year, which could also have influenced the movement of the ice mass.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/glofca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/dji_fly_20251028_170538_0003_1761653468554_photo-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15710\" srcset=\"https:\/\/glofca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/dji_fly_20251028_170538_0003_1761653468554_photo-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/glofca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/dji_fly_20251028_170538_0003_1761653468554_photo-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/glofca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/dji_fly_20251028_170538_0003_1761653468554_photo-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/glofca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/dji_fly_20251028_170538_0003_1761653468554_photo-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/glofca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/dji_fly_20251028_170538_0003_1761653468554_photo-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/glofca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/dji_fly_20251028_170538_0003_1761653468554_photo-18x12.jpg 18w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Outlook<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The glacier\u2019s surface remains active. The residual glacier continues to move forward at speeds of up to 40 metres per day, and there is a risk that another detachment could occur. There is also a risk that the ice mass and sediment accumulated downstream in the valley may subside during heavy rainfall, snowfall, potentially blocking the river channel flowing from the glacier. In this case, a temporary lake could form, and its outburst might damage the bridge on the Dushanbe\u2013Vakhdat\u2013Lakhsh highway leading to the Kyrgyz Republic, as well as affect farmland in the village of Gulrez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Committee for Emergency Situations, work is already underway in the valley to reinforce riverbanks and protect the bridge and nearby areas in case of new surges or water outbursts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>\u201cWe continue monitoring the glacier. In the coming days, our specialists will travel to the site to assess the likelihood of another surge,\u201d added Kamoliddin Nazirzoda.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why it matters<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The recent glacier collapse highlights the urgent need to strengthen disaster risk reduction and establish early warning systems to protect mountain communities &#8211; efforts currently being implemented by the \u201cReducing vulnerabilities of populations in Central Asia from glacier lake outburst floods in a changing climate\u201d&nbsp;(GLOFCA) project near the Said Nasifi (Baralmos) Glacier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-296b5cb0cc0e09b478e5faea3ccb544d\">At the same time, it underlines the importance of sustained glacier monitoring and the development of automatic, remote observation systems, which form a key component of the <a href=\"https:\/\/cryosphereca.org\/\"><em>GEF\u2013UNDP\u2013UNESCO Cryosphere Project<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15709,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-category":[8,49],"class_list":["post-15699","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-category-glacier-lake","news-category-risk-management"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glofca.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glofca.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glofca.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glofca.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glofca.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glofca.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-category?post=15699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}