Characterizing the surge behaviour and associated ice-dammed lake evolution of the Kyagar Glacier in the Karakoram

Li, Guanyu; Lv, Mingyang; Quincey, Duncan J.; Taylor, Liam S.; Li, Xinwu; Yan, Shiyong; Sun, Yidan; Guo, Huadong

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2891-2023

Articles | Volume 17, issue 7

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2891-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2891-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 17, issue 7

Research article

|

18 Jul 2023

Research article |

| 18 Jul 2023

Characterizing the surge behaviour and associated ice-dammed lake evolution of the Kyagar Glacier in the Karakoram

Guanyu Li, Mingyang Lv, Duncan J. Quincey, Liam S. Taylor, Xinwu Li, Shiyong Yan, Yidan Sun, and Huadong Guo

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2891-2023-supplement

Data sets

USGS EROS Archive - Digital Elevation - Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) Non-Void Filled USGS https://doi.org/10.5066/F7K072R7

High Mountain Asia 8-meter DEMs Derived from Along-track Optical Imagery, Version 1 D. E. Shean https://doi.org/10.5067/GSACB044M4PK

High Mountain Asia 8-meter DEMs Derived from Cross-track Optical Imagery, Version 1 D. E. Shean https://doi.org/10.5067/0MCWJJH5ABYO

Short summary

Kyagar Glacier in the Karakoram is well known for its surge history and its frequent blocking of the downstream valley, leading to a series of high-magnitude glacial lake outburst floods. Using it as a test bed, we develop a new approach for quantifying surge behaviour using successive digital elevation models. This method could be applied to other surge studies. Combined with the results from optical satellite images, we also reconstruct the surge process in unprecedented detail.