Glaciers and Glacier Lake Outburst Floods in the Himalaya

The glaciers in the Himalaya award the highest mountain range with their majestic visage. This chapter guides systematically from the ice-covered peaks and the glacial lakes along a catastrophic glacier lake outburst flood trajectory, through the river channel network to the downstream living societies. The reader will learn about glacier dynamics and the link between glacier lake outburst floods hazards and societal impacts. The chapter discusses the current state of knowledge with a special focus on climatic changes and their potential consequences. It demonstrates this with well-documented examples from different places around the Himalaya. Phases of advance and retreat of Himalayan glaciers have created space for lakes to grow at the glacial margins or forelands. Glacier lakes retain snow and glacier meltwater behind glacial ice, moraines or bedrock.