A comprehensive and version-controlled database of glacial lake outburst floods in High Mountain Asia
<p>Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) have been intensely investigated in High Mountain Asia (HMA) in recent years and are the most well-known hazard associated with the cryosphere. As glaciers recede and surrounding slopes become increasingly unstable, such events are expected to increase,...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2023-09-01
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| Series: | Earth System Science Data |
| Online Access: | https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/15/3941/2023/essd-15-3941-2023.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797692536026824704 |
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| author | F. Shrestha J. F. Steiner J. F. Steiner R. Shrestha R. Shrestha Y. Dhungel Y. Dhungel S. P. Joshi S. Inglis A. Ashraf S. Wali K. M. Walizada T. Zhang T. Zhang |
| author_facet | F. Shrestha J. F. Steiner J. F. Steiner R. Shrestha R. Shrestha Y. Dhungel Y. Dhungel S. P. Joshi S. Inglis A. Ashraf S. Wali K. M. Walizada T. Zhang T. Zhang |
| author_sort | F. Shrestha |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) have been intensely
investigated in High Mountain Asia (HMA) in recent years and are the most
well-known hazard associated with the cryosphere. As glaciers recede and
surrounding slopes become increasingly unstable, such events are expected to
increase, although current evidence for an increase in events is ambiguous.
Many studies have investigated individual events, and while several regional
inventories exist, they either do not cover all types of GLOF or are
geographically constrained. Further, downstream impacts are rarely
discussed. Previous inventories have relied on academic sources and have not
been combined with existing inventories of glaciers and lakes. In this
study, we present the first comprehensive inventory of GLOFs in HMA,
including details on the time of their occurrence, processes of lake
formation and drainage involved, and downstream impacts. We document
697 individual GLOFs that occurred between 1833 and 2022. Of these, 23 %
were recurring events from just three ephemeral ice-dammed lakes. In
combination, the documented events resulted in 6906 fatalities of which 906
can be attributed to 24 individual GLOF events, which is 3 times higher
than a previous assessment for the region. The integration of previous
inventories of glaciers and lakes within this database will inform future
assessments of potential drivers of GLOFs, allowing more robust projections
to be developed. The database and future, updated versions are traceable and
version-controlled and can be directly incorporated into further analysis.
The database is available at <a href="https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7271187">https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7271187</a> (Steiner and Shrestha, 2023), while
the code including a development version is available on GitHub.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T02:30:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-79608a1502f64fb197c24dce76d50afb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1866-3508 1866-3516 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T02:30:01Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | Copernicus Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Earth System Science Data |
| spelling | doaj.art-79608a1502f64fb197c24dce76d50afb2023-09-05T09:07:15ZengCopernicus PublicationsEarth System Science Data1866-35081866-35162023-09-01153941396110.5194/essd-15-3941-2023A comprehensive and version-controlled database of glacial lake outburst floods in High Mountain AsiaF. Shrestha0J. F. Steiner1J. F. Steiner2R. Shrestha3R. Shrestha4Y. Dhungel5Y. Dhungel6S. P. Joshi7S. Inglis8A. Ashraf9S. Wali10K. M. Walizada11T. Zhang12T. Zhang13International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), 44700 Lalitpur, NepalInternational Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), 44700 Lalitpur, NepalDepartment of Geography and Regional Science, University of Graz, Heinrichstraße 36, 8010 Graz, AustriaInternational Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), 44700 Lalitpur, NepalDepartment of Environmental Science and Engineering, School of Science, Kathmandu University, 45210 Dhulikhel, NepalInternational Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), 44700 Lalitpur, NepalDPMM, Asian Institute of Technology, 12000 Pathum Thani, ThailandInternational Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), 44700 Lalitpur, NepalThe ADM Capital Foundation (ADMCF), 999077 Hong Kong SAR, ChinaPakistan Agricultural Research Council, 44000 Islamabad, PakistanAga Khan Agency for Habitat, 44000 Islamabad, PakistanAga Khan Agency for Habitat, Kabul, AfghanistanCollege of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, 730000 Lanzhou, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources (TPESER), Institute of Tibetan Plateau, Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100864 Beijing, China<p>Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) have been intensely investigated in High Mountain Asia (HMA) in recent years and are the most well-known hazard associated with the cryosphere. As glaciers recede and surrounding slopes become increasingly unstable, such events are expected to increase, although current evidence for an increase in events is ambiguous. Many studies have investigated individual events, and while several regional inventories exist, they either do not cover all types of GLOF or are geographically constrained. Further, downstream impacts are rarely discussed. Previous inventories have relied on academic sources and have not been combined with existing inventories of glaciers and lakes. In this study, we present the first comprehensive inventory of GLOFs in HMA, including details on the time of their occurrence, processes of lake formation and drainage involved, and downstream impacts. We document 697 individual GLOFs that occurred between 1833 and 2022. Of these, 23 % were recurring events from just three ephemeral ice-dammed lakes. In combination, the documented events resulted in 6906 fatalities of which 906 can be attributed to 24 individual GLOF events, which is 3 times higher than a previous assessment for the region. The integration of previous inventories of glaciers and lakes within this database will inform future assessments of potential drivers of GLOFs, allowing more robust projections to be developed. The database and future, updated versions are traceable and version-controlled and can be directly incorporated into further analysis. The database is available at <a href="https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7271187">https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7271187</a> (Steiner and Shrestha, 2023), while the code including a development version is available on GitHub.</p>https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/15/3941/2023/essd-15-3941-2023.pdf |
| spellingShingle | F. Shrestha J. F. Steiner J. F. Steiner R. Shrestha R. Shrestha Y. Dhungel Y. Dhungel S. P. Joshi S. Inglis A. Ashraf S. Wali K. M. Walizada T. Zhang T. Zhang A comprehensive and version-controlled database of glacial lake outburst floods in High Mountain Asia Earth System Science Data |
| title | A comprehensive and version-controlled database of glacial lake outburst floods in High Mountain Asia |
| title_full | A comprehensive and version-controlled database of glacial lake outburst floods in High Mountain Asia |
| title_fullStr | A comprehensive and version-controlled database of glacial lake outburst floods in High Mountain Asia |
| title_full_unstemmed | A comprehensive and version-controlled database of glacial lake outburst floods in High Mountain Asia |
| title_short | A comprehensive and version-controlled database of glacial lake outburst floods in High Mountain Asia |
| title_sort | comprehensive and version controlled database of glacial lake outburst floods in high mountain asia |
| url | https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/15/3941/2023/essd-15-3941-2023.pdf |
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