GLOF database of High Mountain Asia

Updated Date: 12/13/2023 12:25:11 PM

Glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs) have been intensely investigated in High Mountain Asia (HMA) in recent years and are the most well-known hazard associated with the cryosphere. As glaciers recede and surrounding slopes become increasingly unstable, such events are expected to increase, although current evidence for an increase in events is ambiguous. Many studies have investigated individual events and while several regional inventories exist, they either do not cover all types of GLOF or are geographically constrained. Further, downstream impacts are rarely discussed. Previous inventories have relied on academic sources and have not been combined with existing inventories of glaciers and lakes. In this study, we present the first comprehensive inventory of GLOFs in HMA, including details on the time of their occurrence, processes of lake formation and drainage involved as well as downstream impacts. We document 697 individual GLOFs that occurred between 1833 and 2022. Of these, 23% were recurring events from just three ephemeral ice-dammed lakes. In combination, the documented events resulted in 6906 fatalities of which 906 fatalities were from 24 events, which is three times higher than a previous assessment for the region. The integration of previous inventories of glaciers and lakes within this database will inform future assessments of potential drivers of GLOFs, allowing more robust projections to be developed. The database and future, updated versions, are traceable, version controlled and can be directly incorporated into further analysis.

Schema	iso19139
Purpose	The database provides the first comprehensive dataset of GLOFs in the HMA, including their location, timing, associated processes, and downstream impacts. It includes a rigorous evaluation of local sources on previously unrecorded events to complement records from scientific literature. The dataset is fully accessible and interoperable to couple with other geospatial datasets to predict future projection of the hazards and potential drivers of GLOFs.
Descriptive Keyword	Glacial lake, GLOFs, GLOF Inventory, Cryosphere (theme) High Mountain Asia (place)

Metadata Record Info
Language	eng
Charset	utf8
Hierarchy Level	attribute
Date	2023-12-13T12:25:11
Standard Name	North American Profile of ISO 19115:2003

Contact
Name	Finu Shreatha	Email	finu.shrestha@icimod.org
Organization Name	ICIMOD	Voice	977-1-5275222
Position name	Remote Sensing and Geoinformation Analyst	Address	Nepal
Role	author

Identification Info
Title	GLOF database of High Mountain Asia
Date	2022-10-19
Date Type	publication
Abstract	Glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs) have been intensely investigated in High Mountain Asia (HMA) in recent years and are the most well-known hazard associated with the cryosphere. As glaciers recede and surrounding slopes become increasingly unstable, such events are expected to increase, although current evidence for an increase in events is ambiguous. Many studies have investigated individual events and while several regional inventories exist, they either do not cover all types of GLOF or are geographically constrained. Further, downstream impacts are rarely discussed. Previous inventories have relied on academic sources and have not been combined with existing inventories of glaciers and lakes. In this study, we present the first comprehensive inventory of GLOFs in HMA, including details on the time of their occurrence, processes of lake formation and drainage involved as well as downstream impacts. We document 697 individual GLOFs that occurred between 1833 and 2022. Of these, 23% were recurring events from just three ephemeral ice-dammed lakes. In combination, the documented events resulted in 6906 fatalities of which 906 fatalities were from 24 events, which is three times higher than a previous assessment for the region. The integration of previous inventories of glaciers and lakes within this database will inform future assessments of potential drivers of GLOFs, allowing more robust projections to be developed. The database and future, updated versions, are traceable, version controlled and can be directly incorporated into further analysis.
Purpose	The database provides the first comprehensive dataset of GLOFs in the HMA, including their location, timing, associated processes, and downstream impacts. It includes a rigorous evaluation of local sources on previously unrecorded events to complement records from scientific literature. The dataset is fully accessible and interoperable to couple with other geospatial datasets to predict future projection of the hazards and potential drivers of GLOFs.
Status	completed
Charset	utf8
Topic Category	geoscientificInformation
Spatial Representation Type	textTable

Cited Responsible Parties
Name	Finu Shrestha	Email	finu.shrestha@icimod.org
Organization Name	ICIMOD	Voice	977-1-5275222
Position name	Remote Sensing and Geoinformation Analyst	Address
Role	author

Geographic Extent
Geographic Extent East	102.00	Geographic Extent West	68.00
Geographic Extent North	46.00	Geographic Extent South	26.00

Resource Maintenance Information
Maintenance and update frequency	asNeeded
User Defined Maintenance Frequency
Date of Next Update

Legal Constraints
Use Limitation	Free to use with attribution to the source. Suggested citation: ICIMOD. (2023). GLOF database of High Mountain Asia [Data set]. ICIMOD. https://doi.org/10.26066/RDS.1973283
Access Constraints	copyright
Use Constraints	copyright

Reference System Information
Code

Data Quality Info
Hierarchy level	attribute

Distributor Info
Email	metadata@icimod.org	Organization Name	ICIMOD
Voice	977-1-5275222	Position name
Address		Role	distributor

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GLOF database of High Mountain Asia