The Andean Glacier and Water Atlas

Preparing for glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) While the issue of water scarcity and a lack of water will affect many people across the Andes, several mountain and downstream communities and regions also have to deal with the possibility of glacial lake outburst floods. In many areas, the retreat of glaciers has been accompanied by the development of pro-glacial lakes, which have the potential to burst and cause glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). GLOFs are not new to the continent. A global study identified 165 GLOFs events since the beginning of the 18th Century, with 40 of these events occurring in South America. Of these, 11 occurred in Chile between 1913 and 2009, one in Colombia in 1995, and 28 in Peru between 1702 and 1998 (Harrison et al., 2018). The risk persists, for example, in Bolivia, 25 lakes are considered to pose a potential GLOF threat to downstream communities and infrastructure (Cook et al., 2016).

Identifying measures to reduce the risks and the negative impacts associated with glacier melting, such as GLOFs, is not only important to avoid loss of human life but also for the protection of infrastructure and livelihoods. GLOFs represent one of the most severe glacial hazards. Approaches to this risk, need to be based on careful analysis of the hazards, land use planning and zoning regulations, as well as warning systems and emergency protocols (Vuille et al., 2018). Increasing community outreach and publicity to raise local awareness of the risks is an important step. Engineering can reduce the risk of outburst floods by installing infrastructure, such as pumps that reduce water levels, as well as other means of moraine dam stabilization (Carey et al., 2012). Therefore, establishing increased and more effective glacial lake monitoring systems for improved hazards mapping and management is essential.

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