Sustained growth of high mountain lakes in the headwaters of the Syr Darya River, Central Asia
The continuous rise in summer temperature and consequent glacier wastage have led to a significant loss of frozen water resources in the mountain headwaters of the major river systems in Central Asia. High mountain lakes in the headwaters of the Syr Darya River serve as sensitive indicators of climate change in the region. In this […]
Increasing risk of glacial lake outburst floods from future Third Pole deglaciation
Warming on Earth’s Third Pole is leading to rapid loss of ice and the formation and expansion of glacial lakes, posing a severe threat to downstream communities. Here we provide a holistic assessment of past evolution, present state and modelled future change of glacial lakes and related glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) risk across the […]
Addressing climate change: EU and Central Asia – A cartoon summary
A collection of cartoons on climate change, focussing on EU policies and agreements, as well as the situation in Central Asia countries.
Adapting to Climate Change in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
The region of Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA) is already experiencing the consequences of climate change: increasing variability, warmer temperatures, altered hydrology. Events such as droughts, floods, heat waves, windstorms, and forest fires are increasing in number and severity. The concentration of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere guarantees that similar or greater changes […]
Modelling outburst floods from moraine-dammed glacial lakes
In response to climatic change, the size and number of moraine-dammed supraglacial and proglacial lake systems have increased dramatically in recent decades. Given an appropriate trigger, the natural moraine dams that impound these proglacial lakes are breached, producing catastrophic Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs). These floods are highly complex phenomena, with flood characteristics controlled, in […]
Coupling glacial lake impact, dam breach, and flood processes: A modeling perspective
Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) are highly mobile mixtures of water and sediment that occur suddenly and are capable of traveling tens to hundreds of kilometers with peak discharges and volumes several orders of magnitude larger than those of normal floods. They travel along existing river channels, in some instances into populated downstream regions, and […]
Assessing the influence of the Merzbacher Lake outburst floods on discharge using the hydrological model SWIM in the Aksu headwaters, Kyrgyzstan/NW China
Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF) often have a significant impact on downstream users. Including their effects in hydrological models, identifying past occurrences and assessing their potential impacts are challenges for hydrologists working in mountainous catchments. The regularly outbursting Merzbacher Lake is located in the headwaters of the Aksu River, the most important source of water […]
THE GLACIERS ARE MELTING AND THE RIVERS ARE FLOWING
Last year confirmed a trend of many decades: the glacier mass balance for 2019-20 was negative. The balance is the ratio of the incoming and outgoing mass of snow and ice on the glacier for the year. So, for example, the Tuiksu glacier “lost weight” for the year by 280 mm. This glacier is a […]
An insight into the surface velocity of Inylchek Glacier and its effect on Lake Merzbacher during 2006–2016 with Landsat time-series imagery
Mountain glacier is one of the extremely sensitive indicators for climate change, and its surface motion distribution and corresponding variation are valuable information for understanding ice mass exchange and glacier dynamics. This paper presents the long-term ice velocity distributions of Inylchek Glacier in the Tianshan region by pixel-tracking algorithm with time-series Landsat imagery acquired during […]
Reconstruction of glacial lake outburst floods in northern Tien Shan: Implications for hazard assessment
Glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs) and related debris flows are among the most significant natural threats in the Tien Shan Mountains of Kyrgyzstan and have even caused the loss of life and damage to infrastructure in its capital Bishkek. An improved understanding of the occurrence of this process is essential so as to be able […]
Identification of the glaciers and mountain naturally dammed lakes in the Pskem, the Kashkadarya and the Surhandarya River basins, Uzbekistan, using ALOS satellite data
The glacierized area of Uzbekistan is represented in three river basins – the Pskem, the Kashkadarya and the Surhandarya. This study considers the present state of the glaciers and high-mountain lakes distribution in this area based on the analysis and validation of advanced land observing satellite (ALOS)/advanced visible and near infrared radiometer type 2 (AVNIR-2) […]
Quick Release of Internal Water Storage in a Glacier Leads to Underestimation of the Hazard Potential of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods From Lake Merzbacher in Central Tian Shan Mountains
Glacial meltwater and ice calving contribute to the flood volume of glacial lakes such as Lake Merzbacher in the Tian Shan Mountains of central Asia. In this study, we simulated the lake’s volume by constructing an empirical relationship between the area of Lake Merzbacher, determined from satellite images, and the lake’s water storage, derived from […]