Asian Surveying & Mapping
Breaking News
HAL to build, market Isro’s SSLV in landmark deal
New Delhi, Jun 20: In a historic move for...
Taiwan developing space capabilities for all-weather imaging
TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Taiwan is advancing its space...
Honda hails successful test of reusable rocket as it looks to get into the space business
Tokyo — Japan's second-biggest carmaker, Honda, has successfully tested...
China’s space program provides larger platform for broader international cooperation
BEIJING -- Experts from China's manned space program said...
India To Launch $1.5 Billion Joint Earth Mission With NASA In July
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Indian...
Axiom-4 mission delayed again: ISRO confirms Subhanshu Shukla’s ISS spaceflight won’t launch before 22 June 2025
The Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station has...
Mengzhou spacecraft for China’s moon-landing mission passes landmark test flight
China has completed the inaugural test flight of its...
Space application for ITMA Asia + CITME 2026 opens
Shanghai – Space application for the 2026 edition of...
Yanmar, Chia Tai and XAG Empower Thai Agriculture through Innovation
Bang Nam Priao District, Chachoengsao Province, Thailand – On...
bitsensing Signs MOU with IKIO Technologies to Advance AI-Based Traffic Monitoring on India’s Expressways, Highways and Municipal Areas
Backed by proven success in South Korea and Europe,...

The Journal of Glaciology recently published the first account from scientists at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ITPCAS) concerning a glacier that collapsed on July 17, 2016, killing nine local yak herders. Eyewitnesses reported the episode lasted only four to five minutes, but more than 70 million cubic meters of ice tumbled down a mountain valley, spreading across 6 kilometers of the lowland below.

ESA’s Sentinel-2 satellite recorded “before and after” 10-meter-resolution images of the Aru Glacier collapse on July 17, 2016. (Credit: ESA/Sentinel-2)

ESA’s Sentinel-2 satellite recorded “before and after” 10-meter-resolution images of the Aru Glacier collapse on July 17, 2016. (Credit: ESA/Sentinel-2)

On Sept. 21, 2016, a neighboring glacier to the southeast collapsed. Although there were no deaths, the volume of ice released was even larger than in the first collapse.ESA’s Sentinel-2 satellite recorded “before and after” 10-meter-resolution images of the Aru Glacier collapse on July 17, 2016. (Credit: ESA/Sentinel-2)

“Unusually heavy snowfalls in the months before the collapses must have played a role,” noted Lide Tian of ITPCAS, lead author of the scientific paper. “Large amounts of resulting meltwater may have found their way to the glacier bed or to some surface of structural weakness within the ice. There the meltwater would have reduced frictional drag and triggered the collapses.”