Global warming has led to environmental changes in the Himalayas,and glacial lake outburst has occurred frequently,having inflicted significant losses upon downstream communities and infrastructure.To understand the spatio-temporal characteristics of Himalayan glacial lake outbursts,it employed geomorphic analysis,time series analysis,and climate perturbation analysis.These methods allowed us to analyze the spatial differentiation and variation characteristics of glaciers,glacial lakes and environments in the Himalayas,and to reveal the evolution patterns of glacial lake outbursts'spatio-temporal distribution in the region.The results show follows:(1)Temperature and precipitation has increased considerably in the Himalayan region between 1980 and 2014,with a more significant increase rate observed on the northern than southern sides.Due to the influence of topography and climate,the northern slope of Himalayas and western Himalayas experienced more severe glacier mass loss.Glacial lakes were predominantly concentrated in the central Himalayas and the southern slope of Himalayas,and the number and area of glacial lakes on the southern slopes have increased more than those on the northern slopes during 1990-2015,and the new glacial lakes are distributed at a higher elevation than the disappearing ones.(2)Since the 20th century,249 glacial lake outburst events have occurred in 113 glacial lakes in the Himalayan region and its surrounding areas.The distribution of those glacial lakes is predominantly concentrated in major rivers'steep or extremely steep sections.The number of regional glacial lake outbursts has shown a nonlinear increase trend driven by climate change.The occurrence frequency of glacial lake outburst disasters has a breakpoint of 1966+37/-31 from 1901 to 2020.Furthermore,there is a lag effect of approximately 20 years between the warming rate and the occurrence of glacial lake outburst floods.These research findings can provide a scientific basis for addressing climate change adaptation,disaster risk reduction,and cross-border disaster risk management.
glacial lake outburstdifferentiation patternclimate changeHimalayasenvironmental geologyhazards
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