Siachen temperature

Highlights • Variation of 12 degrees in min and max temperatures in 5 years • Army is forced to relocate posts to minimise avalanche risk • 41 soldiers have died at Siachen from extreme weather since 2013. Siachen: Soldiers of the Armed Forces at Siachen, the world's highest battlefield, are having to remap their posts. The rapid change in temperatures is causing avalanches in safe areas of the glacier where more soldiers have died from the extreme weather than in battle. Located at the northern tip of Kashmir, thousands of troops at Sicahen are in constant danger of frostbite and asphyxiation. Besides avalanches, crevasses are opening up "ahead of time" making movement of soldiers even more treacherous. This has affected the induction and de-induction of troops. Top Ministry officials said that fresh restrictions on movement of soldiers have been imposed. "We have asked soldiers to not move unless it is very necessary," a top official said. According to top officials in the Ministry of Defence, avalanches in the glacier have gone up by about 20 per cent. Earlier this year, 10 soldiers died when a huge ice wall collapsed, burying the critical Sonam post, located close to the Line of Control with Pakistan. Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, who was rescued after being buried below 30 feet of snow for six days, could not be saved. The Sonam post was at a height of 19,600 feet. Several posts in this area had to be relocated as the area is now unstable. Data compiled by the military in...

"International Border" (IB) in the black line, Indo-Pak "Line of Control" (LoC) in black dotted line in the north and west, Indo-Sino "Line of Actual" (LAC) in black dotted line in the east, Indo-Pak line across Siachen in north is "Actual Ground Position Line" (AGPL). The areas shown in green are the two Pakistani-controlled areas: Gilgit–Baltistan in the north and Azad Kashmir in the south. The area shown in orange is the Indian-controlled territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, and the diagonally-hatched area to the east is the Chinese-controlled area known as Aksai Chin. "Territories ceded by Pakistan to China claimed by India" in the north is Shaksgam ( "Point NJ980420" (Point NJ9842) as the starting point of the "Actual Ground Position Line" (AGPL) and the Siachen Base Camp, 12,000 feet above sea level at Partapur, is a Pahalwan Post (about 20,000ft) and posts near Kumar Post or Kumar Base, named after the Colonel Siachen Brigade consists of five to eight battalions of Siachen Base Camp, which serves the northern and middle Siachen sectors, is one of the 2 bases for the Siachen region, and other base being just west of Siachen Base Camp has Siachen Battle School for pre-induction training, orientation and acclimatisation for fresh troops and it is also a launchpad for deployment of the acclimatised troops who are usually deployed on a 2 to 3 month stint on the forward post. The base has helipads, a memorial for martyrs, medical unit etc and it is connected by a...

Two days after an avalanche buried an Indian Army outpost in the world’s highest battlefield, authorities gave up hope of rescuing any of ten soldiers on duty and declared them dead. An entire ice wall collapsed and fell on the prefabricated outpost building, located at a height of 5,400 metres (19,600 feet) on the upper part of the Siachen glacier. Right on the Line of Control that effectively divides the parts of Kashmir administered by India and Pakistan, the glacier in the eastern Karakoram range is claimed by both countries. A ceasefire has been holding since November 2003, with Indian troops stationed on the upper part of the glacier and Pakistani troops the lower part. The Indian Army and the Air Force used rescue personnel, sniffer dogs, ice moving machinery and helicopters in an effort to reach their buried colleagues, but to no avail. “Specialised teams and equipment are on job since yesterday to trace the missing army personnel. But, so far there is no news about the missing soldiers,” spokesman of the Indian Army’s northern command Colonel S.D. Goswami told Goswami refused to speculate on the cause of the avalanche and said, “Such incidents have been happening in the high altitude area.” Climate change, more avalanches But a former researcher in the Snow and Avalanche Studies Establishment (SASE) of India’s defence ministry said the frequency of avalanches had been going up steadily since 1984, when Indian troops were first deployed on the Siachen glacier and s...

Sandwiched between the Karakoram mountains in the East and the Saltro Ridge on the West Siachen is the highest battlefield in the world. The height of this region varies from 19,000 feet to 25,000 feet. Siachen is also considered as one of the most difficult terrains for human habitation, particularly during winters. In fact, it is a glacier and the second-longest in the non-polar areas of the world. This region faces inclement weather conditions round the clock with marginal relief during the months of April and May. As we move further into the winter season the weather becomes freezing cold with December and January being the harshest months. The main challenge in this region is from snow blizzards and avalanches as was recently witnessed. On November 18, an avalanche claimed the lives of Indian 4 army personnel and 2 civilian porters. The extremity of the terrain does not stop here. If we talk about the temperatures in the region, the severity of the weather can be gauged from the fact that the day temperature during winters settles between -50 degrees and -60 degrees Celsius which can definitely make survival for a human being near impossible. Till 1984, round the clock manning by the soldiers of both the sides - India and Pakistan- was not a norm keeping in mind the extremely harsh weather conditions and effort required to manning the region. But due to the rising tensions between both the sides, manning is done 24x7. The difficulty faced by the army here is in plenty...