Articles | Volume 15, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1751-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1751-2021
Research article
 | Highlight paper
 | 
12 Apr 2021
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 12 Apr 2021

Sudden large-volume detachments of low-angle mountain glaciers – more frequent than thought?

Andreas Kääb, Mylène Jacquemart, Adrien Gilbert, Silvan Leinss, Luc Girod, Christian Huggel, Daniel Falaschi, Felipe Ugalde, Dmitry Petrakov, Sergey Chernomorets, Mikhail Dokukin, Frank Paul, Simon Gascoin, Etienne Berthier, and Jeffrey S. Kargel

Related authors

Detection and reconstruction of rock glacier kinematics over 24 years (2000–2024) from Landsat imagery
Diego Cusicanqui, Pascal Lacroix, Xavier Bodin, Benjamin Aubrey Robson, Andreas Kääb, and Shelley MacDonell
The Cryosphere, 19, 2559–2581, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-2559-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-2559-2025, 2025
Short summary
Acceleration of coastal-retreat rates for high-Arctic rock cliffs on Brøggerhalvøya, Svalbard, over the past decade
Juditha Aga, Livia Piermattei, Luc Girod, Kristoffer Aalstad, Trond Eiken, Andreas Kääb, and Sebastian Westermann
Earth Surf. Dynam., 12, 1049–1070, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-1049-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-1049-2024, 2024
Short summary
Observing glacier elevation changes from spaceborne optical and radar sensors – an inter-comparison experiment using ASTER and TanDEM-X data
Livia Piermattei, Michael Zemp, Christian Sommer, Fanny Brun, Matthias H. Braun, Liss M. Andreassen, Joaquín M. C. Belart, Etienne Berthier, Atanu Bhattacharya, Laura Boehm Vock, Tobias Bolch, Amaury Dehecq, Inés Dussaillant, Daniel Falaschi, Caitlyn Florentine, Dana Floricioiu, Christian Ginzler, Gregoire Guillet, Romain Hugonnet, Matthias Huss, Andreas Kääb, Owen King, Christoph Klug, Friedrich Knuth, Lukas Krieger, Jeff La Frenierre, Robert McNabb, Christopher McNeil, Rainer Prinz, Louis Sass, Thorsten Seehaus, David Shean, Désirée Treichler, Anja Wendt, and Ruitang Yang
The Cryosphere, 18, 3195–3230, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3195-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3195-2024, 2024
Short summary
Brief communication: Rapid  ∼  335  ×  106 m3 bed erosion after detachment of the Sedongpu Glacier (Tibet)
Andreas Kääb and Luc Girod
The Cryosphere, 17, 2533–2541, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2533-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2533-2023, 2023
Short summary
The CryoGrid community model (version 1.0) – a multi-physics toolbox for climate-driven simulations in the terrestrial cryosphere
Sebastian Westermann, Thomas Ingeman-Nielsen, Johanna Scheer, Kristoffer Aalstad, Juditha Aga, Nitin Chaudhary, Bernd Etzelmüller, Simon Filhol, Andreas Kääb, Cas Renette, Louise Steffensen Schmidt, Thomas Vikhamar Schuler, Robin B. Zweigel, Léo Martin, Sarah Morard, Matan Ben-Asher, Michael Angelopoulos, Julia Boike, Brian Groenke, Frederieke Miesner, Jan Nitzbon, Paul Overduin, Simone M. Stuenzi, and Moritz Langer
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 2607–2647, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-2607-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-2607-2023, 2023
Short summary

Cited articles

Agatova, A. R., Nepop, R. K., Otgonbayar Demberel, and Ganyushkin, D. A.: The influence of the seismic process on the modern glaciation of the Tsambagarav massif (Western Mongolia), in: XVII Glaciological Symposium, St. Petersburg, Russia, 17–20 November 2020, p. 15, 2020. 
Alean, J.: Ice avalanche activity and mass balance of high-altitude hanging glaciers in the Swiss Alps, Ann. Glaciol., 6, 248–249, 1985. 
Aristov, K. A., Petrakov, D. A., Kovalenko, N. V., Timonin, S. A., Kolchin, A. A., and Drobyshev, V. N.: Monitoring of Kolka Glacier in 2014–2017 by terrestrial stereophotogrammetry, Journal Ice and Snow, 59, 49–58, https://doi.org/10.15356/2076-6734-2019-1-49-58, 2019 (in Russian). 
Avdeev, V. A., Nartov, S. V., Baljinniam, I., Monhoo, D., and Erdenbileg, B.: Tsambagarav earthquake of 23 July 1988, Geology and Geophysics, 11, 118–124, 1989 (in Russian). 
Benn, D. I., Fowler, A. C., Hewitt, I., and Sevestre, H.: A general theory of glacier surges, J. Glaciol., 65, 701–716, https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2019.62, 2019. 
Download
Short summary
Hardly recognized so far, giant catastrophic detachments of glaciers are a rare but great potential for loss of lives and massive damage in mountain regions. Several of the events compiled in our study involve volumes (up to 100 million m3 and more), avalanche speeds (up to 300 km/h), and reaches (tens of kilometres) that are hard to imagine. We show that current climate change is able to enhance associated hazards. For the first time, we elaborate a set of factors that could cause these events.
Share