Geohazards in deglaciating high-mountain regions

Climate change is causing rapid changes in the mountain cryosphere, including the recession and thinning of glaciers, and the warming and thawing of permafrost. These responses make mountain environments more unstable, raising the prospect of hazardous events that threaten people and infrastructure. Most notable among these are (1) glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), where glacier recession leads to the development of meltwater lakes that then burst catastrophically, and (2) mass movements, such as rock and ice avalanches and debris flows, where valley slopes become less stable as a consequence of glacier thinning and/or permafrost thaw. We’ll explore some selected case studies in this talk that illustrate hazards in the rapidly changing mountain cryosphere, and some of the steps we are taking to understand these problems with a view to developing solutions.

Please contact water@dundee.ac.uk if you wish to join online.

Location:

Geography Junior Lab, 1st Floor Tower Extension