Determination of Glacier Mass Balance and Glacier Lake Outburst Flood Susceptibility of Thorthormi Glacier using Geo-informatic techniques

Abstract ID: 3.10383 | Accepted as Talk | Talk/Oral | TBA | TBA

Kelden Jurmey (0)
Kelden Jurmey ((0) Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Nepal, 45210, Kavre, Bagmati, NP)

(0) Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Nepal, 45210, Kavre, Bagmati, NP

Categories: Cryo- & Hydrosphere
Keywords: Glacier Mass Balance, Area Accumulation Ratio, Equilibrium Line Altitude, RGB Composite

Categories: Cryo- & Hydrosphere
Keywords: Glacier Mass Balance, Area Accumulation Ratio, Equilibrium Line Altitude, RGB Composite

The content was (partly) adapted by AI
Content (partly) adapted by AI

Due to climate change, Bhutan’s magnificent glaciers, which are the lifeblood of the country, are slowly disappearing. These vast chunks of ice serve as nutrients for ecosystems, water crops and generate hydroelectricity. This research utilizes geoinformatics techniques to assess the health of Thorthormi Glacier which is an important source of water and has the potential to cause devastating Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) in Bhutan. A technique called Accumulation Area Ratio (AAR) was used to determine the glacier mass balance of Thorthomi tsho from year 2015 to 2023. AAR is ratio of accumulated area of glacier to the total area of the glacier (Cogley et al., 2011). This technique involves the use of Sentinel images and over laying the images to produce Red, Green and Blue (RGB) composite. From this RGB composite, Equilibrium Line Altitude(ELA) was delineated to get AAR. The declining nature of Thorthormi’s AAR indicates more melting of glacier. The research examined meltwater from the glacier that feeds Thorthormi Lake so as to better understand the vulnerability of GLOFs or glacial lake outbursts in this area. Thorthomi glacier is losing more mass than it gains, as a result, the glacier cannot regenerate itself. Due to the melting of Thorthomi glacier, the proglacier lake beneath it, is growing bigger. It indicates that there could be a possible hazard for a catastrophic GLOF soonest possible. A sudden breach of the lake’s dam could release a massive amount of water, ice, and debris, causing widespread destruction and endangering lives downstream(Sharma et al., 2018). To determine the GLOF susceptibility of the area downstream, hydrological modelling was performed, which make use of lakes volume and its peak discharge. Modified Normalized Difference Water Index was used to delineate the area of Thorthomi lake. The area is then used to determine the volume of the lake. Based on the volume, peak discharge and with the help of a Digital Elevation Model (DEM), the susceptibility map was produced for each zone of the study area.

N/A
NAME:
TBA
BUILDING:
TBA
FLOOR:
TBA
TYPE:
TBA
CAPACITY:
TBA
ACCESS:
TBA
ADDITIONAL:
TBA
FIND ME:
>> Google Maps

Limits: min. 3 words, max. 30 words or 200 characters

Choose the session you want to submit an abstract. Please be assured that similar sessions will either be scheduled consecutively or merged once the abstract submission phase is completed.

Select your preferred presentation mode
Please visit the session format page to get a detailed view on the presentation timings
The final decision on oral/poster is made by the (Co-)Conveners and will be communicated via your My#IMC dashboard

Please add here your abstract meeting the following requirements:
NO REFERNCES/KEYWORDS/ACKNOWEDGEMENTS IN AN ABSTRACT!
Limits: min 100 words, max 350 words or 2500 characters incl. tabs
Criteria: use only UTF-8 HTML character set, no equations/special characters/coding
Copy/Paste from an external editor is possible but check/reformat your text before submitting (e.g. bullet points, returns, aso)

Add here affiliations (max. 30) for you and your co-author(s). Use the row number to assign the affiliation to you and your co-author(s).
When you hover over the row number you are able to change the order of the affiliation list.

1
1

Add here co-author(s) (max. 30) to your abstract. Please assign the affiliation(s) of each co-author in the "Assigned Aff. No" by using the corresponding numbers from the "Affiliation List" (e.g.: 1,2,...)
When you hover over the row number you are able to change the order of the co-author list.

1
1
2
3
4
1
Close