Articles | Volume 20, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-5883-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-5883-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Glacier response to the transition from lake- to land-terminating following a glacial lake outburst flood at Jinwu Glacier, southeastern Tibet
Yunyi Luo
Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Engineering Resilience, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610213, China
College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Engineering Resilience, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610213, China
Yin Fu
Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Engineering Resilience, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610213, China
Xueyuan Lu
Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Engineering Resilience, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610213, China
College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Yongsheng Yin
Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Engineering Resilience, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610213, China
College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Jiawei Yang
Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Engineering Resilience, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610213, China
College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Guoxiong Zheng
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Xuyang Lu
Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Engineering Resilience, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610213, China
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Zheng, G., Allen, S. K., Bao, A., Ballesteros-Cánovas, J. A., Huss, M., Zhang, G., Li, J., Yuan, Y., Jiang, L., Yu, T., Chen, W., and Stoffel, M.: Increasing risk of glacial lake outburst floods from future Third Pole deglaciation, Nat. Clim. Change, 11, 411–417, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01028-3, 2021c.
Short summary
After a glacial lake outburst flood in 2020, Jinwu Glacier in southeastern Tibet lost contact with its lake. Using satellite images, we found that the glacier front slowed by about 44% and showed ice-cliff collapse and a short-lived advance. The study shows that sudden lake drainage can rapidly change glacier behaviour, with implications for how lake-terminating glaciers evolve after outburst floods.
After a glacial lake outburst flood in 2020, Jinwu Glacier in southeastern Tibet lost contact...