Monitoring Glaciers and Associated Glacial Lakes on the East Slopes of Mount Xixabangma from Remote Sensing Images

The remote sensing images from 1977 to 2003 have shown that the glaciers on the East slopes of Mount Xixabangma were retreating, while the associated glacial lakes were increasing rapidly.The Jicong Pu Glacier and Reqiang Glacier decreased about 57 099 m~2 and 63 224 m~2 in area,48 m and 71 m in length per year,respectively,while the Glacial Lake Lumu Chimi and Glacial Lake Gangxi increased 79 048 m~2 and 73 425 m~2 in area,respectively.The dams of the tow lakes are terminal moraines,which means the lake dams are quite unstable.It is expected that the two glacial lakes have the potentiality of glacial lake outburst flood,and should be investigated in detail.Additionally,several possible mitigation measures for reducing glacial lake outburst flood were discussed and proposed.