Increasing glacial lake outburst flood hazard in response to surge glaciers in the Karakoram

Bazai, Nazir Ahmed; Cui, Peng; Carling, Paul A.; Wang, Hao; Hassan, Javed; Liu, Dingzhu; Zhang, Guotao; Jin, Weiyang

doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103432

Cited by 103 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 124 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The source of many large Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) in the Karakoram can be traced back to lakes which have formed behind the advancing terminus of a surge-type glacier (Hewitt and Liu, 2010;Bhambri et al, 2019). The timing and magnitude of the drainage of such lakes is difficult to predict because of the active nature of the lake's ice dam, but several GLOFs may occur from the same lake during the active phase of the damming glacier (Round et al, 2017;Gao et al, 2021;Bazai et al, 2021). The recent surge and associated glacial lake formation alongside Shishpare Glacier (Bhambri et al, 2020) is just one example of the threat posed by surge-related hazards to high mountain infrastructure such as the International Karakoram Highway -a route which provides a vital link to mountain communities in southwest China/Tibet and Pakistan (Ding et al, 2018).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A regionally resolved inventory of High Mountain Asia surge-type glaciers, derived from a multi-factor remote sensing approach

Guillet

King

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Knowledge about the occurrence and characteristics of surge-type glaciers is crucial due to the impact of surging on glacier melt and glacier related hazards. One of the "super-clusters" of surge-type glaciers is the mountains of Asia. However, no consistent region-wide inventory of surge-type glaciers in High Mountain Asia exists. We present a regionally resolved inventory of surge-type glaciers based on their behaviour across High Mountain Asia between 2000 and 2018. We identify surge-type behaviour from surface velocity, elevation and feature change patterns using a multi-factor remote sensing approach that combines yearly ITS_LIVE velocity data, DEM differences and very-high resolution imagery (Bing Maps, Google Earth). Out of the ≈ 95000 glaciers in HMA, we identified 666 that show diagnostic surge-type glacier behaviour between 2000 and 2018, which are mainly found in the Karakoram (223) and the Pamir regions (223). The total area covered by the 666 surge-type glaciers represents 19.5 % of the glacierized area in Randolph Glacier Inventory (RGI) V6.0 polygons in HMA. Across all regions of HMA, the surge-affected area within glacier complexes displays a significant power law dependency with glacier length. We validate 107 previously identified glaciers as surge-type and newly identify 491 glaciers. We finally discuss the possibility of self-organized criticality in glacier surges.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A regionally resolved inventory of High Mountain Asia surge-type glaciers, derived from a multi-factor remote sensing approach

Guillet

King

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The source or cause of the dam can be assessed using remote sensing interpretation; the three most common river-blocking mechanisms are landslide, debris flow and glacier advance, so identification of dam type is mainly based on the recognition of these features (Figure 3). At present, the remote sensing interpretation signs of these three types of mass movement have been relatively clearly studied (Li et al, 2015;Xu et al, 2014;Fan et al, 2019a;Bazai et al, 2021). This research uses unified remote sensing interpretation signs (e.g.…”

Section: Remote Sensing Interpretation Of Damsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship Between Dams, Knickpoints and the Longitudinal Profile of the Upper Indus River

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mass movements in mountainous areas are capable of damming rivers and can have a lasting effect on the river longitudinal profile. The long profile is commonly used to retrieve regional tectonic information, but how much dams may compromise geomorphometry-based tectonic analysis has not been systematically researched. In this study, we investigate the relationship between river dams and the longitudinal profile of the upper Indus River basin, based on interpretation and analysis of remote sensing imagery and digital elevation models (DEMs) and local field work. We identified 178 landslide, glacier and debris flow dams. Using TopoToolbox, we automatically extracted the river longitudinal profile from the 30 m SRTM DEM, determined the location of convex knickpoints and calculated the channel steepness index. One hundred and two knickpoints were detected with heights above 148 m, of which 55 were related to dams. There is good spatial correspondence between dams, convexities in the river longitudinal profile and relatively high steepness index. Different dam types have different impacts on the river profile; on the upper Indus, debris flow dams have a greater impact than landslide and glacier dams and can form knickpoints of up to 900 m. Therefore, dams may have a significant influence on the river longitudinal profile, knickpoints and steepness index, and should be considered when extracting information on regional tectonics using these indices.

show abstract

“…In high‐altitude regions of Asia, such as the Tibetan Plateau and high mountainous areas of central Asia, disasters including glacial floods, glacial lake outbursts and glacial debris flows have occurred frequently in relation to rapid melting of mountain glaciers under a global warming scenario (Bazai et al, 2021; Richardson & Reynolds, 2000; Wang & Zhou, 2017). Catastrophic floods in high mountainous areas, especially glacial floods, are Earth's largest recorded freshwater floods and may be the most dangerous events (Montgomery et al, 2004; O'Connor & Costa, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Palaeoflood events during the last deglaciation in the Yellow River source area on the northeast Tibetan Plateau

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Palaeoflood records have provided the extended perspective required to understand linkages between extreme floods and climate variability. During our palaeo‐hydrological investigations, two units of palaeoflood slackwater deposits (SWD) were found on the river banks in the Maqu‐Oula reach along the mainstream of the Yellow River on the northeast (NE) Tibetan Plateau. A series of samples were taken from the sediment profiles at Taiwuruo (TWR) and Daerqiong (DEQ) sites for laboratory analysis. Grain‐size distribution and micro‐morphological characteristics of quartz grains indicate that these well‐sorted SWD units were derived from the suspended sediment load in floodwater. They have recorded two episodes of overbank flooding in the Yellow River source area. Using the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating technique, the first episode of overbank flooding was dated to 13.6–13.0 ka and correlated with the Bølling–Allerød warm interval of the last deglaciation. The second episode occurred at 11.0–10.0 ka, that is, the early Holocene. In a warm‐humid climate, these overbank flooding episodes may have resulted from the accelerated melting of mountain glaciers and snow over the headwaters of the alpine and subalpine regions on the NE Tibetan Plateau. These results are important in facilitating an in‐depth understanding of the hydro‐climatic response of the Tibetan Plateau to global climate warming occurring presently.

show abstract

Increasing glacial lake outburst flood hazard in response to surge glaciers in the Karakoram

Cited by 103 publications

References 124 publications

A regionally resolved inventory of High Mountain Asia surge-type glaciers, derived from a multi-factor remote sensing approach

A regionally resolved inventory of High Mountain Asia surge-type glaciers, derived from a multi-factor remote sensing approach

Relationship Between Dams, Knickpoints and the Longitudinal Profile of the Upper Indus River

Palaeoflood events during the last deglaciation in the Yellow River source area on the northeast Tibetan Plateau

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About