scholarly journals User Engagement in Developing Use-Inspired Glacial Lake Outburst Flood Decision Support Tools in Juneau and the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dina Abdel-Fattah ◽  
Sarah Trainor ◽  
Eran Hood ◽  
Regine Hock ◽  
Christian Kienholz
Keyword(s):  
Glacial Lake ◽  
User Engagement ◽  
National Weather Service ◽  
Kenai Peninsula ◽  
Emergency Responders ◽  
The Us ◽  
Information User ◽  
Glacial Lake Outburst Flood ◽  
Downstream Communities ◽  
Weather Service

Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) significantly affect downstream communities in Alaska. Notably, GLOFs originating from Suicide Basin, adjacent to Mendenhall Glacier, have impacted populated areas in Juneau, Alaska since 2011. On the Kenai Peninsula, records of GLOFs from Snow Glacier date as far back as 1949, affecting downstream communities and infrastructure along the Kenai and Snow river systems. The US National Weather Service, US Geological Survey, and University of Alaska Southeast (for Suicide Basin) provide informational products to aid the public in monitoring both glacial dammed lakes as well as the ensuing GLOFs. This 2 year study (2018–2019) analyzed how communities affected by the aforementioned GLOFs utilize these various products. The participants in this project represented a variety of different sectors and backgrounds to capture a diverse set of perspectives and insights, including those of homeowners, emergency responders, tour operators, and staff at federal and state agencies. In addition, feedback and suggestions were collected from interviewees to facilitate improvements or modifications by the relevant entities to make the informational products more usable. Findings from this study were also used to inform changes to the US National Weather Service monitoring websites for both Suicide Basin and Snow Glacier. This paper’s findings on GLOF information use are relevant for other GLOF-affected communities, from both an information user and information developer perspective.

scholarly journals Estimating the volume of Alpine glacial lakes

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 559-575 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. Cook ◽  
D. J. Quincey
Keyword(s):  
Glacial Lake ◽  
Lake Area ◽  
Empirical Relationships ◽  
Main Trunk ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Global Database ◽  
Lake Volume ◽  
Supraglacial Lakes ◽  
Glacial Lake Outburst Flood ◽  
Downstream Communities

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.

scholarly journals By the Numbers: DAP: Digital Analytics Program

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Pamela Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Federal Agencies ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
National Library ◽  
National Weather Service ◽  
Good Data ◽  
The Us ◽  
Government Websites ◽  
Weather Service ◽  
General Services Administration

Every day, millions of people access government websites. Over the thirty days preceding the date this article was written, the National Weather Service and the National Library of Medicine each received more than 50 million visits. According to the US General Services Administration, there are over 1,300 dot-gov domains in use by federal agencies. Given the immense resources involved in building and maintaining these websites, sound decisions about allocating these resources are important. And that means decision makers need good data.

scholarly journals Glacier change and glacial lake outburst flood risk in the Bolivian Andes

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon J. Cook ◽  
Ioannis Kougkoulos ◽  
Laura A. Edwards ◽  
Jason Dortch ◽  
Dirk Hoffmann
Keyword(s):  
Glacial Lake ◽  
Outburst Flood ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Mountain Communities ◽  
Bolivian Andes ◽  
Proglacial Lakes ◽  
Lake Change ◽  
Glacial Lake Outburst Flood ◽  
Downstream Communities ◽  
Cordillera Real

Abstract. Glaciers of the Bolivian Andes represent a vital water resource for Andean cities and mountain communities, yet relatively little work has assessed changes in their extent over recent decades. In many mountain regions, glacier recession has been accompanied by the development of proglacial lakes, which can pose a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) hazard. However, no studies have assessed the development of such lakes in Bolivia despite recent GLOF incidents here. Our mapping from satellite imagery reveals an overall areal shrinkage of 228.1 ± 22.8 km2 (43.1 %) across the Bolivian Cordillera Oriental between 1986 and 2014. Shrinkage was greatest in the Tres Cruces region (47.3 %), followed by the Cordillera Apolobamba (43.1 %) and Cordillera Real (41.9 %). A growing number of proglacial lakes have developed as glaciers have receded, in accordance with trends in most other deglaciating mountain ranges, although the number of ice-contact lakes has decreased. The reasons for this are unclear, but the pattern of lake change has varied significantly throughout the study period, suggesting that monitoring of future lake development is required as ice continues to recede. Ultimately, we use our 2014 database of proglacial lakes to assess GLOF risk across the Bolivian Andes. We identify 25 lakes that pose a potential GLOF threat to downstream communities and infrastructure. We suggest that further studies of potential GLOF impacts are urgently required.

scholarly journals Estimating the volume of Alpine glacial lakes

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 909-940 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. Cook ◽  
D. J. Quincey
Keyword(s):  
Glacial Lake ◽  
Lake Area ◽  
Empirical Relationships ◽  
Main Trunk ◽  
Global Database ◽  
Bathymetric Data ◽  
Lake Volume ◽  
Supraglacial Lakes ◽  
Glacial Lake Outburst Flood ◽  
Downstream Communities

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 measured 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), there are distinct outliers in the dataset. 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 dataset 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.

scholarly journals Hydrology laboratory research modeling system (HL-RMS) of the US national weather service

2004 ◽  
Vol 291 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 297-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Koren ◽  
Seann Reed ◽  
Michael Smith ◽  
Ziya Zhang ◽  
Dong-Jun Seo
Keyword(s):  
Laboratory Research ◽  
National Weather Service ◽  
The Us ◽  
Weather Service

scholarly journals Glacier change and glacial lake outburst flood risk in the Bolivian Andes

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 2399-2413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon J. Cook ◽  
Ioannis Kougkoulos ◽  
Laura A. Edwards ◽  
Jason Dortch ◽  
Dirk Hoffmann
Keyword(s):  
Glacial Lake ◽  
Outburst Flood ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Mountain Communities ◽  
Bolivian Andes ◽  
Proglacial Lakes ◽  
Lake Change ◽  
Glacial Lake Outburst Flood ◽  
Downstream Communities ◽  
Cordillera Real

Abstract. Glaciers of the Bolivian Andes represent an important water resource for Andean cities and mountain communities, yet relatively little work has assessed changes in their extent over recent decades. In many mountain regions, glacier recession has been accompanied by the development of proglacial lakes, which can pose a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) hazard. However, no studies have assessed the development of such lakes in Bolivia despite recent GLOF incidents here. Our mapping from satellite imagery reveals an overall areal shrinkage of 228.1 ± 22.8 km2 (43.1 %) across the Bolivian Cordillera Oriental between 1986 and 2014. Shrinkage was greatest in the Tres Cruces region (47.3 %), followed by the Cordillera Apolobamba (43.1 %) and Cordillera Real (41.9 %). A growing number of proglacial lakes have developed as glaciers have receded, in accordance with trends in most other deglaciating mountain ranges, although the number of ice-contact lakes has decreased. The reasons for this are unclear, but the pattern of lake change has varied significantly throughout the study period, suggesting that monitoring of future lake development is required as ice continues to recede. Ultimately, we use our 2014 database of proglacial lakes to assess GLOF risk across the Bolivian Andes. We identify 25 lakes that pose a potential GLOF threat to downstream communities and infrastructure. We suggest that further studies of potential GLOF impacts are urgently required.

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