Surge dynamics and lake outbursts of Kyagar Glacier, Karakoram

Round, Vanessa; Leinss, Silvan; Huss, Matthias; Haemmig, Christoph; Hajnsek, Irena

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-723-2017

Articles | Volume 11, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-723-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-723-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 11, issue 2

Research article

| Highlight paper

|

21 Mar 2017

Research article | Highlight paper |

| 21 Mar 2017

Surge dynamics and lake outbursts of Kyagar Glacier, Karakoram

Vanessa Round, Silvan Leinss, Matthias Huss, Christoph Haemmig, and Irena Hajnsek

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-723-2017-supplement

Data sets

Sentinel-1A satellite data ESA https://cophub.copernicus.eu/dhus/\#/home

Landsat satellite data USGS https://landsat.usgs.gov/landsat-data-access

TanDEM-X data DLR https://tandemx-science.dlr.de/

Short summary

Recent surging of Kyagar Glacier (Karakoram) caused a hazardous ice-dammed lake to form and burst in 2015 and 2016. We use remotely sensed glacier surface velocities and surface elevation to observe dramatic changes in speed and mass distribution during the surge. The surge was hydrologically controlled with rapid summer onset and dramatic termination following lake outburst. Since the surge, the potential outburst hazard has remained high, and continued remote monitoring is crucial.