Glacial lake development and marine inundation, Deer Lake area, Newfoundland, Canada: Topographically controlled deglaciation of an interior basin

1995 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian A. Brookes
2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (251) ◽  
pp. 347-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
GUOQING ZHANG ◽  
TOBIAS BOLCH ◽  
SIMON ALLEN ◽  
ANDREAS LINSBAUER ◽  
WENFENG CHEN ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTDespite previous studies, glacier–lake interactions and future lake development in the Poiqu River basin, central Himalaya, are still not well understood. We mapped glacial lakes, glaciers, their frontal positions and ice flow from optical remote sensing data, and calculated glacier surface elevation change from digital terrain models. During 1964–2017, the total glacial-lake area increased by ~110%. Glaciers retreated with an average rate of ~1.4 km2 a−1 between 1975 and 2015. Based on rapid area expansion (>150%), and information from previous studies, eight lakes were considered to be potentially dangerous glacial lakes. Corresponding lake-terminating glaciers showed an overall retreat of 6.0 ± 1.4 to 26.6 ± 1.1 m a−1 and accompanying lake expansion. The regional mean glacier elevation change was −0.39 ± 0.13 m a−1 while the glaciers associated with the eight potentially dangerous lakes lowered by −0.71 ± 0.05 m a−1 from 1974 to 2017. The mean ice flow speed of these glaciers was ~10 m a−1 from 2013 to 2017; about double the mean for the entire study area. Analysis of these data along with climate observations suggests that ice melting and calving processes play the dominant role in driving lake enlargement. Modelling of future lake development shows where new lakes might emerge and existing lakes could expand with projected glacial recession.


1995 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Batterson ◽  
D. G. E. Liverman ◽  
G. E. Kirby

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 987
Author(s):  
Mana Raj Rai ◽  
Amnat Chidthaisong ◽  
Chaiwat Ekkawatpanit ◽  
Pariwate Varnakovida

The Himalayas, especially the Everest region, are highly sensitive to climate change. Although there are research works on this region related to cryospheric work, the ecological understandings of the alpine zone and climate impacts are limited. This study aimed to assess the changes in surface water including glacier lake and streamflow and the spatial and temporal changes in alpine vegetation and examine their relationships with climatic factors (temperature and precipitation) during 1995–2019 in the Everest region and the Dudh Koshi river basin. In this study, Landsat time-series data, European Commission’s Joint Research Center (JRC) surface water data, ECMWF Reanalysis 5th Generation (ERA5) reanalysis temperature data, and meteorological station data were used. It was found that the glacial lake area and volume are expanding at the rates of 0.0676 and 0.0198 km3/year, respectively; the average annual streamflow is decreasing at the rate of 2.73 m3/s/year. Similarly, the alpine vegetation greening as indicated by normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is increasing at the rate of 0.00352 units/year. On the other hand, the annual mean temperature shows an increasing trend of 0.0329 °C/year, and the annual precipitation also shows a significant negative monotonic trend. It was also found that annual NDVI is significantly correlated with annual temperature. Likewise, the glacial lake area expansion is strongly correlated with annual minimum temperature and annual precipitation. Overall, we found a significant alteration in the alpine ecosystem of the Everest region that could impact on the water–energy–food nexus of the Dudh Koshi river basin.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 559-575 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. Cook ◽  
D. J. Quincey

Abstract. Supraglacial, moraine-dammed and ice-dammed lakes represent a potential glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) threat to downstream communities in many mountain regions. This has motivated the development of empirical relationships to predict lake volume given a measurement of lake surface area obtained from satellite imagery. Such relationships are based on the notion that lake depth, area and volume scale predictably. We critically evaluate the performance of these existing empirical relationships by examining a global database of glacial lake depths, areas and volumes. Results show that lake area and depth are not always well correlated (r2 = 0.38) and that although lake volume and area are well correlated (r2 = 0.91), and indeed are auto-correlated, there are distinct outliers in the data set. These outliers represent situations where it may not be appropriate to apply existing empirical relationships to predict lake volume and include growing supraglacial lakes, glaciers that recede into basins with complex overdeepened morphologies or that have been deepened by intense erosion and lakes formed where glaciers advance across and block a main trunk valley. We use the compiled data set to develop a conceptual model of how the volumes of supraglacial ponds and lakes, moraine-dammed lakes and ice-dammed lakes should be expected to evolve with increasing area. Although a large amount of bathymetric data exist for moraine-dammed and ice-dammed lakes, we suggest that further measurements of growing supraglacial ponds and lakes are needed to better understand their development.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florencia Matina Tuladhar ◽  
Diwakar KC

Abstract Climate change has been adversely affecting glaciers causing them to advance and recession worldwide. Existing studies have primarily attributed temperature as the leading factor causing glacier recession. However, detailed studies that investigate effect of other factors like presence of debris cover, slope, and contact with water bodies are still scarce. This research, thus investigated the role of supraglacial lakes in recession of debris-covered glaciers (DCG). Such glaciers were studied since these lakes are found in debris-covered glaciers only. For this purpose the interannual variation in area of supraglacial lakes of Dudh Koshi basin was computed to test the hypothesis that these lakes play a significant role in glacier recession. Supraglacial lakes were delineated using Google Earth Pro at five year intervals to assess interannual variation in lake area. Slope, elevation and change in supraglacial lake area were the predictors influencing average decadal change in area of glaciers. Two models prepared using multiple linear regression in Excel were compared. The first model used elevation and slope as predictors while the second model used change in supraglacial lake area as the additional predictor. The second model had a higher coefficient of determination (R square) and Adjusted R-square values of 99 % and 96 % compared to the first model. Further test statistics from Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) results were compared to test the hypothesis. Moreover the Root mean square error (RMSE) of second model was also less than the first one. Hence both the regression statistics and RMSE confirmed that change in area of supraglacial lakes was an important factor that influences overall recession of debris-covered glaciers. Nevertheless, use of high spatial and temporal resolution imageries along-with increase in number of glaciers sampled should be incorporated in future studies to ensure robust outcomes. Thus this research can bolster the overall understanding between glacier and glacial lake dynamics which will improve the resilience of downstream inhabitants from climate induced hazards, such as glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs).


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingsong Ma ◽  
Chunqiao Song ◽  
Yanjun Wang

Climate warming is intensifying the melting of glaciers and the growth of glacial lakes in the Alps, which has a profound impact on the management of water resources and high-mountain hydropower in this region. However, the research on the spatial distribution and temporal evolution of the Alps glacial lakes of various types still lacks a holistic view. In this study, we developed an inventory of Alps glacial lakes of different types and then obtained the annual areas of these lakes from 2000 to 2019 using JRC Global Surface Water and Global Land Analysis and Discovery data at a resolution of 30 m. A total of 498 glacial lakes (>0.01 km2) with the net area of 33.77 ± 6.94 km2 were identified in the Alps in 2019 and are mainly distributed in the western and central Alps. These Alps glacial lakes, with the area ranging 0.01–1.59 km2, are generally dominated by small-sized ones. The comparison of lakes of different types indicated that ice-uncontacted lakes are dominant in number and area, accounting for 59.4 and 58.4%, respectively. In terms of the elevation distribution, almost half of the lakes are concentrated at the altitude of 2,250–2,750 m (a.s.l.). Meanwhile, the mean altitude of small glacial lakes is higher than that of large lakes. The distribution of ice-contacted lakes and supraglacial lakes were more concentrated, and the mean altitude was higher. During the study period, the number, area, and water volume of glacial lakes were increasing, but the expansion varied between different periods. The changing trends of the glacial lake area and volume were consistent and presents in three stages, as the glacial lake expanded rapidly in the first 5 years and in the last 7 years and remained relatively stable between 2005 and 2012. The number and area of glacier-fed lakes increased rapidly, while the non-glacier-fed lakes were relatively stable. The area change rate of supraglacial lakes was the largest (+47%). This study provides a spatially-complete and temporally-consecutive picture of glacial lake changes in the Alps and can be greatly helpful for future research on climate-glacier-lake interactions, glacial lake outburst floods, and freshwater resources in this region.


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