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Expansion of Shishper Glacier lake and recent glacier lake outburst flood (GLOF), Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

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Abstract

Shishper lake is an ice-dammed lake in northern Pakistan that has drained twice within one (1) year. The parameters evaluated in this paper are the lake’s area, volume, peak discharge, and its outburst events using various satellite images from November 2018 to June 2020. Based on satellite imagery and empirical approaches, the lake formed in November 2018 and reached a maximum of 0.34 km2 till its first breach that occurred on 22 June 2019. Since June 2019, the lake drained till September 2019. After that, the flow was blocked again, and the lake expanded to an area of 0.27 km2 till its second outburst event that happened on May 29, 2020. Eight cross-sectional profiles of Hassanabad ravine are generated based on peak discharge in the lake’s rapid outburst. The results indicate that, the peak discharge for both 2019 and 2020 was more than 4500 m3 s−1. Delineation of downstream Hassanabad ravine shows that more than 1000 buildings and 2000+ population is prone to flood. However, the lake drain twice steadily, but it has a high potential to cause severe damages if it bursts abruptly.

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Data availability

The datasets used or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding authors on reasonable request, and all data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the Natioanl Key R&D Programme of China (2018YFB1307504) and Joint fund of Science and Technalogies Department of Lianoning Province and State Key Laboratory of Rebotics, China (202-KF-2217) and also thankfull to Alliance of International Science Organisation (ANSO) scholarship for young talent for sponsoring the whole work. The authors are also thankful to the Department of Earth Sciences faculty and supporting staff for their continuous technical support and lab facility during the study period. We extended our gratitude and thanks to anonymous reviewers for reviewing this manuscript.

Funding

This research has been supported by the recurring research grant of Karakoram International University (KIU), Gilgit, 15100 Pakistan, Natioanl Key R&D Programme of China (2018YFB1307504), Joint fund of Science and Technalogies Department of Lianoning Province and State Key Laboratory of Rebotics, China (202-KF-2217) and Alliance of International Science Organisation (ANSO) scholarship for young talent.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Karakoram International University, Gilgit, 15100, Pakistan

    Garee Khan, Javed Akhter Qureshi & Izhar Karim

  2. Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, 100101, China

    Sajid Ali & Xu Xiangke

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Science (UCAS), Beijing, China

    Sajid Ali

  4. CAS Centre of Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing, China

    Xu Xiangke

  5. Department of Physics, Karakoram International University, Gilgit, 15100, Pakistan

    Manzoor Ali

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  1. Garee Khan
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Correspondence to Garee Khan.

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Please refer to the article submitted to the Environmental Science and Pollution Research (ESPR) entitled “Expansion of Shisper Glacier Lake and Recent Glacier Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF), Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan” for publication. As the corresponding author, I undertake on behalf of myself and my co-authors the following.

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Khan, G., Ali, S., Xiangke, X. et al. Expansion of Shishper Glacier lake and recent glacier lake outburst flood (GLOF), Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 20290–20298 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11929-z

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