Glacial Lake Outburst Floods

By: Sonam Rinzin and Professor Rachel Carr

Professor Rachel Carr and Sonam Rinzin presented their groundbreaking research on glacial lake outburst floods and the growing risks they pose to communities and mountaineers.

Professor Rachel Carr is a professor of glaciology at Newcastle University and her research focuses on the response of glaciated regions to climate change. She uses a combination of remote sensing, GIS and numerical modelling and study areas include Greenland, Svalbard, Russian High Arctic, New Zealand and the European Alps. Among several, current projects include quantifying trends in world-wide hazard and risk from glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) in the Himalayas. She discussed her research with relevance to ice loss in Bhutan.

Sonam Rinzin is currently pursuing a PhD at Newcastle University in the field of Physical Geography. His thesis focuses on understanding how glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) hazard interacts with downstream exposure and vulnerability in order to shape understanding of GLOF risk in Bhutan.

In this talk, Sonam took us into the heart of GLOF risk in Bhutan highlighting how the remote community of Lunana is living on the frontline of risk driven by glacier retreat and GLOF hazards. Over the past seven years including his ongoing PhD studies, Sonam has developed extensive expertise in GLOF hazard and risk assessment in the Himalayas, with particular focus on Bhutan.