Abstract

Global warming has accelerated alpine glacier melting and led to an increased risk of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). This paper extracted glacial lake boundaries in the Tienshan Mountains of Central Asia from 1990 to 2023, analyzed their spatiotemporal variations and evaluated their risk levels under current and future scenarios. The results show that glacial lakes are predominantly distributed in the Central and Western Tienshan, accounting for 75% of the total number in the Tienshan region. The number and area of glacial lakes increased by 148% (from 1837 to 4557) and 71.83% (from 119.73 to 205.73 km2) during 1990 to 2023, with moraine lake expansion predominating. In the Western Tienshan, the high or very high risk of GLOF is 3–4 times that of other areas. By the middle of the twenty-first century, GLOF risk will continue to increase, especially in the Western Tienshan. This study can provide scientific foundation for disaster mitigation in the downstream areas.

Details

Title
Risk assessment of glacial lake outburst flood in the Central Asian Tienshan Mountains
Author
Chen, Man 1 ; Chen, Yaning 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Fang, Gonghuan 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Zheng, Guoxiong 3 ; Li, Zhi 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Li, Yupeng 2 ; Zhu, Ziyang 2 

 Xinjiang Normal University, College of Geographic Science and Tourism, Urumqi, China (GRID:grid.464477.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1761 2847) 
 Chinese Academy of Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Urumqi, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309) 
 Lanzhou University, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou, China (GRID:grid.32566.34) (ISNI:0000 0000 8571 0482) 
Pages
209
Publication year
2024
Publication date
2024
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
23973722
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
3101654188
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2024. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.