GNSS on Glaciers - Continuous Monitoring of a Glacier Lake Outburst Flood
July 6, 2017 • 458 Views
Workshop 2017 - Cornelia Zech - Natural glacier events such as ice avalanches, debris flows or glacier lake outburst floods (GLOF) may have hazardous impacts on the downstream area of the glacier and can cause severe destructions. Each year, the ice-dammed Lake Merzbacher is formed at the Inylchek Glaciers in Kyrgyzstan and drains predominantly every year causing a destructive flood. To understand the mechanism of the GLOF and to evaluate the potential to develop an early warning system, a network of continuously operating GNSS stations at the Inylchek Glaciers provide horizontal and vertical positions of the ice-dam in front of the Merzbacher Lake. Especially the vertical position shows a significant change shortly prior and after the GLOF which is comparable with the year before and after.
