Fresh glacial lakes form at source of Nepal’s ice-rock avalanche

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A satellite image shows one of two lakes at the site of the glacial collapse in the border area between Nepal and Tibet Autonomous Region, China, on August 28, 2026. | Photo Credit: Reuters

Two more glacial lakes have formed in Nepal, near the apparent source of the ice-rock avalanche that triggered flooding in Nepal’s Bhote Koshi-Trishuli river system on Wednesday (August 26, 2026).

While the formation of the lakes is known, information on the potential water outflow is unavailable, said Krishna Vatsa, Member and Head of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). “One is 19.80 hectares, and the other is 7.28 hectares. We don’t have any estimates of the volume, but there are moraines [piles of debris deposited by a moving glacier],” he told The Hindu . “These are lakes that have formed in Nepal, and we don’t have direct knowledge of what’s happening there. We need to keep monitoring. These are natural formations, and so we can’t entirely predict how they evolve,” he added.

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At least one of these lakes appears similar to the one independently confirmed by Suhora Technologies, a Noida-based space-data analytics firm, which also said it had identified a “newly formed water body” at the source of the ice-rock avalanche.

“Analysis of high-resolution optical satellite imagery acquired on August 27 shows a lake spanning approximately 20.25 hectares in the high-altitude Lhende Khola region, near the Nepal-Tibet border. The company placed the feature at 28°17′39.0″N, 85°30′38.9″E. The imagery, supplied by Satellogic at a resolution of about 70 cm, was acquired at 04:22 UTC (9:52 a.m. IST) on August 27,” the company said in a statement on Friday.

Suhora said the lake’s formation is an important feature to monitor following the August 26 avalanche and subsequent flash flooding downstream. While a newly formed water body in the vicinity of an avalanche or debris-flow source could indicate water accumulation associated with the event, its presence by itself does not mean that another glacial-lake outburst flood is imminent.

The company said it would continue monitoring the lake’s extent and stability using satellite imagery. The assessment remains preliminary, and further observations and ground-based investigation will be needed to establish the lake’s origin, depth, stability, and potential downstream risk, it added.

So far, the consensus among experts is that a mass of glacier ice, rock, and debris in the Himalayas near Langtang Lirung detached itself at about 5,200 metres and fell roughly 1,200 metres into the Lhende Khola system. Its momentum gathered more rock, sediment, ice, and water and morphed it into a fast-moving debris flow.