Bhutan is the most vulnerable country globally to GLOFs because its population, infrastructure, cultural heritage and hydro-power generation capacity lie downstream of its glacial lakes, which have grown rapidly. There are more than 2,500 glacial lakes in the mountainous country, 65 of which are categorised as high-risk, but their remote location and the high-altitude terrain make it prohibitively expensive to monitor even the most dangerous lakes using industry-standard sensors.

With funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Newcastle University will develop a new, long-term, international partnership centred on GLOFs and water and energy resources in Bhutan. Working with the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGoB) and Druk Holding and Investments (DHI) - which has expertise in sensor prototyping and remote-area power and data communications technology - the team at Newcastle will co-develop a network of low-cost sensors to monitor GLOFs and their potential triggers and use ensemble modelling to accurately determine a range of realistic GLOF scenarios to optimise downstream early warning systems.

The project will be led by Professor Rachel Carr, Professor of Glaciology, Newcastle University, who said: “This seedcorn funding will allow us to develop ways to provide earlier and more effective warnings and has the potential to save lives and infrastructure and deliver major economic benefits. It will underpin longer-term emergency and land-use planning. This funding will also consolidate new international partnerships, ensuring the two-way transfer of skills and knowledge.”

The work builds on Newcastle University's research expertise in GLOFs, and low-cost environmental monitoring.

In January 2025, Sonam Rinzin, a Newcastle University doctoral student, was part of an international team that identified the exact causes and drivers of the catastrophic GLOF in Sikkim state, India, in October 2023. Sonam will be part of the team working on the Bhutan GLOFs project providing expertise with risk-modelling.

And in February 2023, a Newcastle University-led team produced the first global assessment of areas at greatest risk of GLOFs and identified priority areas for mitigation. The research highlighted that 15 million people live within 50 km of a glacial lake and that High Mountain Asia - which encompasses Bhutan, as well as parts of India and Pakistan - has the highest GLOF danger, with 9.3 million people potentially at risk.

The project will also co-design appropriate power supplies and data transmission infrastructure and ways to integrate these with existing data networks, delivery interfaces and decision-making pathways.