Relations between climate change and mass movement: Perspectives from the Canadian Cordillera and the European Alps

Chiarle, Marta; Geertsema, Marten; Mortara, G.; Clague, John J.

doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2021.103499

Cited by 41 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 208 publications

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“…In high mountains, glacier shrinkage is destabilizing valley walls, leading to deep‐seated gravitational movement, rockfalls, and rockslides (Cossart et al., 2008; Deline et al., 2021; Kos et al., 2016). In some settings, landslides that begin high on the flanks of mountains can transform into complex mass movements that trigger destructive and potentially deadly cascades of debris and water (Alford & Schuster, 2000; Chiarle et al., 2021; Evans et al., 2021; Hermanns et al., 2004, 2020; Hermanns, Dahle, et al., 2013; Hermanns, L’Heureux, et al., 2013; Hubbard et al., 2005; Shugar et al., 2021; Vilca et al., 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The 28 November 2020 Landslide, Tsunami, and Outburst Flood – A Hazard Cascade Associated With Rapid Deglaciation at Elliot Creek, British Columbia, Canada

Geertsema

Menounos

Bullard

et al. 2022

Geophysical Research Letters

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We describe and model the evolution of a recent landslide, tsunami, outburst flood, and sediment plume in the southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia, Canada. On November 28, 2020, about 18 million m3 of rock descended 1,000 m from a steep valley wall and traveled across the toe of a glacier before entering a 0.6 km2 glacier lake and producing >100‐m high run‐up. Water overtopped the lake outlet and scoured a 10‐km long channel before depositing debris on a 2‐km2 fan below the lake outlet. Floodwater, organic debris, and fine sediment entered a fjord where it produced a 60+km long sediment plume and altered turbidity, water temperature, and water chemistry for weeks. The outburst flood destroyed forest and salmon spawning habitat. Physically based models of the landslide, tsunami, and flood provide real‐time simulations of the event and can improve understanding of similar hazard cascades and the risk they pose.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The 28 November 2020 Landslide, Tsunami, and Outburst Flood – A Hazard Cascade Associated With Rapid Deglaciation at Elliot Creek, British Columbia, Canada

Geertsema

Menounos

Bullard

et al. 2022

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…Intense precipitation events, which are projected to increase in intensity and occur more frequently (Bürger et al, 2019;Giorgi et al, 2016;Scherrer et al, 2016), have a higher chance of affecting unfrozen material during prolonged snow-free periods (Kormann et al, 2016;Rottler et al, 2021;Wijngaard et al, 2016) and may thereby lead to a shift in the relative importance of sediment sources. Adding to this, permafrost thaw can destabilize hillslopes and facilitate mass movements (Chiarle et al, 2021;Huggel et al, 2010;Savi et al, 2020). On the other hand, changes in catchment-scale connectivity can provide new pathways or close off old pathways for loose material to the receiving waters (Cavalli et al, 2013;Lane et al, 2017) depending on local preconditions, for example due to the formation of a proglacial lake.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suspended sediment and discharge dynamics in a glaciated alpine environment: identifying crucial areas and time periods on several spatial and temporal scales in the Ötztal, Austria

et al. 2022

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Abstract. Glaciated high-alpine areas are fundamentally altered by climate change, with well-known implications for hydrology, e.g., due to glacier retreat, longer snow-free periods, and more frequent and intense summer rainstorms. While knowledge on how these hydrological changes will propagate to suspended sediment dynamics is still scarce, it is needed to inform mitigation and adaptation strategies. To understand the processes and source areas most relevant to sediment dynamics, we analyzed discharge and sediment dynamics in high temporal resolution as well as their patterns on several spatial scales, which to date few studies have done. We used a nested catchment setup in the Upper Ötztal in Tyrol, Austria, where high-resolution (15 min) time series of discharge and suspended sediment concentrations are available for up to 15 years (2006–2020). The catchments of the gauges in Vent, Sölden and Tumpen range from 100 to almost 800 km2 with 10 % to 30 % glacier cover and span an elevation range of 930 to 3772 m a.s.l. We analyzed discharge and suspended sediment yields (SSY), their distribution in space, their seasonality and spatial differences therein, and the relative importance of short-term events. We complemented our analysis by linking the observations to satellite-based snow cover maps, glacier inventories, mass balances and precipitation data. Our results indicate that the areas above 2500 m a.s.l., characterized by glacier tongues and the most recently deglaciated areas, are crucial for sediment generation in all sub-catchments. This notion is supported by the synchronous spring onset of sediment export at the three gauges, which coincides with snowmelt above 2500 m but lags behind spring discharge onsets. This points at a limitation of suspended sediment supply as long as the areas above 2500 m are snow-covered. The positive correlation of annual SSY with glacier cover (among catchments) and glacier mass balances (within a catchment) further supports the importance of the glacier-dominated areas. The analysis of short-term events showed that summer precipitation events were associated with peak sediment concentrations and yields but on average accounted for only 21 % of the annual SSY in the headwaters. These results indicate that under current conditions, thermally induced sediment export (through snow and glacier melt) is dominant in the study area. Our results extend the scientific knowledge on current hydro-sedimentological conditions in glaciated high-alpine areas and provide a baseline for studies on projected future changes in hydro-sedimentological system dynamics.

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“…Other observations show the complex combined effect of slope debuttressing with climatic forcings (Huggel et al., 2012; Zerathe et al., 2014), ice loading history (Grämiger et al., 2017), and the role of ice‐thaw in fractures, that contributes to the stability of landslides (Hilger et al., 2021). Other forcings include the increase of pore water pressure in fractures at depth due to ice melting (Chiarle et al., 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanisms of Landslide Destabilization Induced by Glacier‐Retreat on Tungnakvíslarjökull Area, Iceland

Lacroix

Belart

Sæmundsson

et al. 2022

Geophysical Research Letters

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The massive worldwide deglaciation leads to more frequent slope instabilities in mountainous terrains. The physical processes leading to such destabilizations are poorly constrained due to little monitoring of dynamic parameters at the local scale. Here we study a very large slow‐moving landslide (∼0.8 km2), on the flank of Tungnakvíslarjökull glacier in Iceland. Based on a combination of remote sensing images, we monitor the landslide and glacier kinematics over 75 years, with a focus over the period 1999–2019 when rapid glacier wastage has been observed. The landslide accelerates from 2 to 45 m/yr in the 6 years following a sudden increase in glacier mass loss. This acceleration coincides with intense quake activity (Mℓ < 2.8), recorded by a regional seismic network. We show that this seismicity is caused by the landslide sliding on a rough surface. The evolution of the quake magnitudes suggests a progressive segmentation of the landslide mass during its acceleration.

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Relations between climate change and mass movement: Perspectives from the Canadian Cordillera and the European Alps

Cited by 41 publications

References 208 publications

The 28 November 2020 Landslide, Tsunami, and Outburst Flood – A Hazard Cascade Associated With Rapid Deglaciation at Elliot Creek, British Columbia, Canada

The 28 November 2020 Landslide, Tsunami, and Outburst Flood – A Hazard Cascade Associated With Rapid Deglaciation at Elliot Creek, British Columbia, Canada

Suspended sediment and discharge dynamics in a glaciated alpine environment: identifying crucial areas and time periods on several spatial and temporal scales in the Ötztal, Austria

Mechanisms of Landslide Destabilization Induced by Glacier‐Retreat on Tungnakvíslarjökull Area, Iceland

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