Glacier Retreat in Eastern Himalaya Drives Catastrophic Glacier Hazard Chain

Autor: Yao Li, Yifei Cui, Xie Hu, Zhong Lu, Jian Guo, Yu Wang, Hao Wang, Shuofan Wang, Xinzhi Zhou
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2024
Předmět:
Zdroj: Geophysical Research Letters, Vol 51, Iss 8, Pp n/a-n/a (2024)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1944-8007
0094-8276
DOI: 10.1029/2024GL108202
Popis: Abstract Cryospheric responses to climate warming include glacier retreat, altitude‐dependent thermal instability, and abundant meltwater, which increase the frequency of catastrophic glacier hazard chain (CGHC) events. Here we investigated the formation mechanism of a special CGHC event in 2018, in the Sedongpu Glacier, Eastern Himalayas, China. Based on the multi‐source remote sensing, seismic signal analysis, and numerical simulation, we conducted long‐term retrospective analysis and co‐event process reconstruction. The results show that the event could be divided into two phases. First, the hanging glacier with a volume of 8.5 × 106 m3 collapsed onto the downstream trunk glacier. Next, ∼1.17 × 108 m3 eroded materials from the impacted glacier transformed into debris flow and traveled downstream 8 km. During the cascading process, ice‐rock avalanche momentum and glacier velocity are key factors in determining CGHC formation and eventual volume. Our study helps better understand the domino effects of the CGHC disaster.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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