DOCTORAL SEMINAR

TITLE
“GLACIAL RETREAT AND GLACIAL LAKE OUTBURST FLOODING (GLOF)”
Presented By: Ifra Ashraf
Abstract
Glacial hazards relate to hazards associated with glaciers and glacial lakes in high
mountain areas and their impacts downstream. Glacier recession and formation of glacial
lakes along with outburst flood hazards are increasing in response to changing climate in the
the majority of glacierized areas around the world. The climatic change/variability in recent
decades has made considerable impacts on the glacier life cycle in the Himalayan region. As
a result, many big glaciers melted, forming a large number of glacial lakes. A number of
glacial lakes have been identified and found expanding owing to climate change and glacier
thinning. Due to an increase in the rate at which ice and snow melts, the accumulation of
water in the glacial lakes has started increasing. Sudden discharge of large volumes of water
with debris from these lakes potentially causes glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) in
valleys downstream. Outbursts from glacier lakes have repeatedly cause the loss of human
lives as well as severe damage to local infrastructure. This mandates the monitoring of the
glacial lakes and extent of GLOF impact along the downstream which can be made quickly
and precisely using remote sensing technique.
Highlights

 Glacier retreat is considered to be one of the most obvious manifestations of recent

and ongoing climate change in the majority of glacierized areas around the world,
including both high latitude (arctic) and high-altitude (mountainous) regions.
 Various types of slope movements and the formation and evolution of lakes are
observed in recently deglaciated areas particularly in the majority of glacierized high-
mountain areas all around the globe, which in turn can cause Lake Outburst floods.
 The first GLOF event in the Indian Himalaya has been reported in 1926 from the
Shyok glacier, Jammu and Kashmir which has caused tremendous destruction of
Abudan village and the surrounding land covering a distance of 400 km from the
outburst source.
 PDGLs (Potentially dangerous glacial lakes) are increasing in Himalayan region.
 The proglacial lakes often grow downstream of steep glaciers, where water is
collected behind former moraines. Due to the impounded huge volumes of water and
unstable nature of moraine deposits, such lakes have high tendency of breaching and
therefore, are expected to be hazardous.
 Occurrence of GLOF from a lateral moraine-dammed lake is rare. It occurred in
Chorabari mainly because of the collapsed barrier’s proximal location to the snout of
the glacier.
 Measurement of the volume of small depressions using DEM data available in the
Internet tend to vary extensively. Employing this kind of data in the prediction of
GLOF needs to be done with appropriate caution.
 Field observations need to be supplemented to enhance the accuracy of the remote
sensing techniques.