Modeling the glacial lake outburst flood process chain in the Nepal Himalaya: reassessing Imja Tsho's hazard

Lala, Jonathan M.; Rounce, David R.; McKinney, Daene C.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-3721-2018

Articles | Volume 22, issue 7

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-3721-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-3721-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 7

Research article

|

13 Jul 2018

Research article |

| 13 Jul 2018

Modeling the glacial lake outburst flood process chain in the Nepal Himalaya: reassessing Imja Tsho's hazard

Jonathan M. Lala, David R. Rounce, and Daene C. McKinney

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-3721-2018-supplement

Data sets

Supplementary material for Lala, J. M., Rounce, D. R., and McKinney, D. C.: Modeling the glacial lake outburst flood process chain in the Nepal Himalaya: Reassessing Imja Tsho's Hazard. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 2018 J. M. Lala https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1287335

Model code and software

Supplementary material for Lala, J. M., Rounce, D. R., and McKinney, D. C.: Modeling the glacial lake outburst flood process chain in the Nepal Himalaya: Reassessing Imja Tsho's Hazard. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 2018 J. M. Lala https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1287335

Short summary

Many glacial lakes in the Himalayas are held in place by natural sediment dams, which are prone to collapse, causing a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF). This study models a GLOF as a process chain, in which an avalanche enters the lake, creates a large wave that erodes the sediment dam, and produces a flood downstream. Results indicate that Imja Tsho presents little hazard for the next 30 years, but the model is replicable and should be used at other lakes that may present greater hazard.