Glacier changes and related glacial lake expansion in the Bhutan Himalaya, 1990–2010

Veettil, Bijeesh Kozhikkodan; Bianchini, Nilceia; Andrade, André Medeiros de; Bremer, Ulisses Franz; Simões, Jefferson Cárdia; Souza, Enoil de

doi:10.1007/s10113-015-0853-7

Cited by 22 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This indicates that glacial lakes in the Bhutan Himalayas are not different from the rest of the Himalayas in terms of size distribution. Veettil et al [24] delineated 1065 glacial lakes from a much smaller domain than the current study's domain. This was a larger number than the current study because smaller lakes (<0.01 km 2 ) and lakes >2 km away from the Little Ice Age (LIA) moraine were included.…”

Section: Current Status Of Glacial Lakesmentioning

confidence: 75%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Evaluating the Scale and Potential of GLOF in the Bhutan Himalayas Using a Satellite-Based Integral Glacier–Glacial Lake Inventory

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:A comprehensive glacier-glacial lake inventory was developed for the Bhutan Himalayas based on satellite observations between 1987-1990 and 2006-2011. In total, 733 lakes (covering 82.6 km 2 ) were delineated between 4000 and 6000 m a.s.l. and their relationships to associated glaciers were documented. Using this new inventory, the scale and potential for glacial lake outburst flooding (GLOF) based on multiple criteria was examined. This included a history of connectivity characteristics of glacial lakes to mother glaciers, potential flood volumes, and debris-cover of mother glaciers in addition to the conventional criteria of expansion rate and lake size. The majority of the lakes with high expansion rates (more than double in size) and large areas (>0.1 km 2 ) met the conditions of being continuously in contact with a mother debris-covered glacier for nearly 20 years. Based on these multiple criteria, two lakes were identified as having potential for large-scale GLOF. Potentially dangerous glacial lakes listed in the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) study were re-visited, and some overlaps with the glacier-glacial lake inventory were found.

show abstract

Section: Current Status Of Glacial Lakesmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…Many of the new lakes, formed after 1990, are supra-glacial and located on debris-covered glaciers [24]. This implies that the connection type and the presence of supra-glacial debris are strongly related to continuous lake expansion.…”

Section: Multiple Criteria For Scale and Potentialmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the Scale and Potential of GLOF in the Bhutan Himalayas Using a Satellite-Based Integral Glacier–Glacial Lake Inventory

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Total glacier coverage in the four considered cordilleras was reduced by 43.95% (from 152.65 to 85.56 km 2 ) between 1985 and 2015; reduction in glaciarized areas Palacios et al, 2014;Veettil et al, 2016aVeettil et al, , 2016cVeettil, 2017;Veettil and Souza, 2017). Overall glacial area reduction between 1985 and 2015 and the corresponding data are summarized in Table 1.…”

Section: Overall Glacier Area and Snowline Changesmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Tropical glaciers in the Andes, particularly in the eastern cordilleras of Peru and Bolivia, were extensively studied in recent years due to their functionality as climate proxies (Vuille et al, 2008a(Vuille et al, , 2008bVeettil et al, 2016aVeettil et al, , 2016b and freshwater resource during dry season (Soruco et al, 2015). Based on the recent Randolph Glacier Inventory (RGI version 5.0), more than 99% of the tropical glaciers of the world are situated in the Andes and nearly 70% of the tropical Andean glaciers are in Peru (Pfeffer et al, 2014), distributed in 20 distinct glacierized mountain ranges (cordilleras) (Morales-Arnao, 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, glaciers in the inner tropics (Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela) are extremely sensitive to temperature variability whereas those glaciers in the outer tropics (Peru, Bolivia and northern Chile) are more sensitive to precipitation variability than temperature fluctuations (Favier et al, 2004). Many studies have proposed that inter-annual variabilities such as El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) (Arnaud et al, 2001;Maussion et al, 2015), inter-decadal variability like Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) (Drenkhan et al, 2015) or both (Veettil et al, 2014(Veettil et al, , 2016aMernild et al, 2015), have a direct influence on mass balance fluctuations of glaciers in the tropical Andes. However, the influences of these ocean-atmospheric oscillations are not uniform in the tropical Andes (Veettil, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Regional climate forcing and topographic influence on glacier shrinkage: eastern cordilleras of Peru

Veettil

Wang²,

Simões

et al. 2017

Intl Journal of Climatology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study assessed the influence of regional climate variability and topography on surface area changes at glacierized mountain peaks of four eastern tropical Andes cordilleras between 10.5 ∘ and 13.5 ∘ S, namely, Huaguruncho, Huaytapallana, Urubamba and Vilcabamba, during the period 1985-2015 using satellite data. Time series analysis of three key climate variables (temperature, precipitation and relative humidity) at 500 hPa level was also included. Decreasing trends in precipitation and increasing relative humidity trends were observed at the northern region. Further analysis on mean distribution of wind at 500 hPa level showed significant rising trend southwards during the austral winter. Glacierized surfaces at lower altitudes were shrinking faster than those at high altitudes as expected. However, spatial orientation of glacier retreat was not similar to nearby cordilleras such as Vilcanota and Carabaya excepting for Cordillera Urubamba. Despite the high rate of precipitation due to the humidity transport from the Amazon Basin on the eastern slopes, glaciers on the eastern and north-eastern slopes in the Cordillera Urubamba retreated at a higher rate compared with those glaciers on western and south-western sides. Whether higher retreat on the eastern sides towards the south is controlled by precipitation phase changes (rain or snow) or by increased humidity levels was discussed. Furthermore, there was a predominant snowline altitude (SLA) rising trend varying between 56 and 129 m for the studied glaciers. A sharp rise in SLAs for periods 1995-2000 and 2010-2015 was attested, coinciding with warming trends in the Pacific. The relative stability in observed SLAs between 2000 and 2010 also coincided with cooling trends in the Pacific.

show abstract

Proglacial Lakes in High Mountain Environments

Otto

2018

Geography of the Physical Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Glacier changes and related glacial lake expansion in the Bhutan Himalaya, 1990–2010

Cited by 22 publications

References 25 publications

Evaluating the Scale and Potential of GLOF in the Bhutan Himalayas Using a Satellite-Based Integral Glacier–Glacial Lake Inventory

Evaluating the Scale and Potential of GLOF in the Bhutan Himalayas Using a Satellite-Based Integral Glacier–Glacial Lake Inventory

Regional climate forcing and topographic influence on glacier shrinkage: eastern cordilleras of Peru

Proglacial Lakes in High Mountain Environments

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About