Abstract
ABSTRACTClimatic change-induced glacier recession has been accompanied by formation and growth of proglacial lakes in the Himalayan region, which pose an emerging significant threat to the downstream communities/settlements in the form of outburst floods. To understand spatiotemporal evolution patterns, sources and driving mechanism of formation and expansion of glacial lakes, a temporal inventory of glacial lakes (area > 2000 m2) in Chandra basin has been developed from 2000 to 2014 using IRS LISS-III images. From 2000 to 2014, the total number of glacial lakes in Chandra basin increased from 28 to 46 and area expanded from 1.91 ± 0.24 km2 to 3.26 ± 0.24 km2. Glacier recession and increased glacier melt runoff due to climate warming led to the formation and expansion of glacial lakes in space vacated by glacier recession. The increase in number and area of ice-dammed lakes at higher elevations confirms the continued glacier retreat in the basin. Lakes in contact or in the proximity of the mother glacier exhibit higher growth and formation rate. The accelerated growth of glacial lakes has resulted in increased hazard and damage potential of glacial lake outburst floods in Chandra basin. Seven potentially dangerous lakes are identified and analysed qualitatively for outburst probability.
Highlights
Global climate is changing due to various natural processes/phenomena and human activities
Linear Imaging Self Scanning (LISS)-III sensor multispectral images of 24-m resolution from Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites IRS-1C, Resourcesat-1(IRS-P6) and Resourcesat-2 (IRS-R2) for the years 2000, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2013, and 2014 procured from National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) Hyderabad, India were used for mapping and classification of glacial lakes
The area of mapped glacial lakes in Chandra basin ranges from 0.002 km2 to 1.26 km2
Summary
Global climate is changing due to various natural processes/phenomena and human activities. Climate change-induced glacier recession have triggered the dynamic evolution of glacial lakes in high-mountain areas worldwide, leading to the formation, growth and disappearance of different types of glacial lakes (Frey et al 2010; Mergili et al 2013; Wang et al 2013; Emmer et al 2015; Wang et al 2016) Some of these lakes are hazardous and pose a threat to downstream communities and infrastructure because of their potential to outburst and drain suddenly to cause rapid and highly devastating glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) (Richardson and Reynolds 2000).
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