Pangong Tso

Pangong Tso or Pangong Lake^[a] is an endorheic lake spanning eastern Ladakh in India and Ngari Prefecture in Tibet. Situated at an elevation of 14,200 ft (4,300 m), it occupies an area of approximately 604 km² (233 sq mi). It stretches for 134 km (83 mi) and is 5 km (3.1 mi) wide at its broadest point. It is located in a landlocked basin and is separated from the Indus River basin by an elevated ridge. The water is saline, and the lake freezes during winter.

Approximately two-thirds of the lake lies within the area administered by China, with the remainder controlled by India. The Line of Actual Control, which demarcates the Sino-Indian border, passes through the lake. A section of the lake is claimed both by China and India, and has been part of the wider Sino-Indian border dispute. As a result of the dispute, the region saw conflict during the Sino-Indian War in 1962 and 2020–2021 China–India skirmishes.

Historically, the name Pangong Tso only applied to the westernmost of the five sub-lakes that was in Ladakh. On the Tibetan side, the two larger parts of the lake, called Nyak Tso (the "middle lake"), sandwiched the twin smaller lakes of Rum Tso.^[1][2] The whole lake group is often referred to as Tsomo Nganglha Ringpo (Tibetan: མཚོ་མོ་ངང་ལྷ་རིང་པོ) in the Tibetan language.^[3]

There are different interpretations of the meanings of Pangong Tso and Tsomo Nganglha Ringpo. As per the, "Pangong Tso" means "high grassland lake" in Tibetan.^[4] However, other literature states that "Pangong" means "hollow" or "concave". Tsomo Nganglha Ringpo is interpreted to have various similar meanings in Tibetan. Chinese media sources state that it means "long, narrow, enchanted lake",^[7] while it has been described as "female narrow very long lake" by European explorers,and "long-necked swan lake" by other sources.^[9]