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Assessing the potential impact of glacial lake outburst floods on individual objects using a high-performance hydrodynamic model and open-source data

Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) are one of the major natural hazards in certain populated mountainous areas, e.g., the Himalayan region, which may lead to catastrophic consequences including substantial loss of lives. Evaluating the potential socio-economic impact of GLOFs is essential for risk...

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Main Authors: Huili Chen, Jiaheng Zhao, Qiuhua Liang, Sudan Bikash Maharjan, Sharad Prasad Joshi
Format: Default Article
Published: 2021
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2134/18865973.v1
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author Huili Chen
Jiaheng Zhao
Qiuhua Liang
Sudan Bikash Maharjan
Sharad Prasad Joshi
author_facet Huili Chen
Jiaheng Zhao
Qiuhua Liang
Sudan Bikash Maharjan
Sharad Prasad Joshi
author_sort Huili Chen (6247118)
collection Figshare
description Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) are one of the major natural hazards in certain populated mountainous areas, e.g., the Himalayan region, which may lead to catastrophic consequences including substantial loss of lives. Evaluating the potential socio-economic impact of GLOFs is essential for risk mitigation and enhancing community resilience. Yet in most of the cases, this is confronted with the challenges of limited availability of data and inaccessibility to most of the glacial lakes in the high-altitude areas. This study aims to exploit open data from different sources and high-performance hydrodynamic modelling to develop a new framework for GLOF exposure and impact assessment. In the new framework, different GLOF scenarios are created using a simple dam breach model. A high-performance hydrodynamic model is then adopted to simulate the resulting flood hydrodynamics. Necessary socio-economic information is collected and processed from multiple sources including OpenStreetMap, Google Earth, and global data products to support exposure analysis. Established depth-damage curves are used to assess the GLOF damage extents to different exposed objects and an existing fatality estimating procedure is adopted to assess the potential loss of lives. The evaluation framework is applied to the Tsho Rolpa glacial lake in Nepal. From the results, the worst GLOF scenario as considered can potentially inundate 1647 buildings, impact 5038 people and hit 123 key facilities including schools, hospitals, airports, hydropower plants, etc. It may substantially damage 900 buildings, 10.63 km2 of agricultural land and 50.9 km roads and may potentially lead to 45 deaths even if warning is available.
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spelling rr-article-188659732021-10-28T00:00:00Z Assessing the potential impact of glacial lake outburst floods on individual objects using a high-performance hydrodynamic model and open-source data Huili Chen (6247118) Jiaheng Zhao (6870125) Qiuhua Liang (5297225) Sudan Bikash Maharjan (11992345) Sharad Prasad Joshi (11992348) Environmental Sciences object-based assessment hydrodynamic flood modelling open-source data impact assessment hazard exposure Glacial lake outburst floods Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) are one of the major natural hazards in certain populated mountainous areas, e.g., the Himalayan region, which may lead to catastrophic consequences including substantial loss of lives. Evaluating the potential socio-economic impact of GLOFs is essential for risk mitigation and enhancing community resilience. Yet in most of the cases, this is confronted with the challenges of limited availability of data and inaccessibility to most of the glacial lakes in the high-altitude areas. This study aims to exploit open data from different sources and high-performance hydrodynamic modelling to develop a new framework for GLOF exposure and impact assessment. In the new framework, different GLOF scenarios are created using a simple dam breach model. A high-performance hydrodynamic model is then adopted to simulate the resulting flood hydrodynamics. Necessary socio-economic information is collected and processed from multiple sources including OpenStreetMap, Google Earth, and global data products to support exposure analysis. Established depth-damage curves are used to assess the GLOF damage extents to different exposed objects and an existing fatality estimating procedure is adopted to assess the potential loss of lives. The evaluation framework is applied to the Tsho Rolpa glacial lake in Nepal. From the results, the worst GLOF scenario as considered can potentially inundate 1647 buildings, impact 5038 people and hit 123 key facilities including schools, hospitals, airports, hydropower plants, etc. It may substantially damage 900 buildings, 10.63 km2 of agricultural land and 50.9 km roads and may potentially lead to 45 deaths even if warning is available. 2021-10-28T00:00:00Z Text Journal contribution 2134/18865973.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Assessing_the_potential_impact_of_glacial_lake_outburst_floods_on_individual_objects_using_a_high-performance_hydrodynamic_model_and_open-source_data/18865973 CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
spellingShingle Environmental Sciences
object-based assessment
hydrodynamic flood modelling
open-source data
impact assessment
hazard exposure
Glacial lake outburst floods
Huili Chen
Jiaheng Zhao
Qiuhua Liang
Sudan Bikash Maharjan
Sharad Prasad Joshi
Assessing the potential impact of glacial lake outburst floods on individual objects using a high-performance hydrodynamic model and open-source data
title Assessing the potential impact of glacial lake outburst floods on individual objects using a high-performance hydrodynamic model and open-source data
title_full Assessing the potential impact of glacial lake outburst floods on individual objects using a high-performance hydrodynamic model and open-source data
title_fullStr Assessing the potential impact of glacial lake outburst floods on individual objects using a high-performance hydrodynamic model and open-source data
title_full_unstemmed Assessing the potential impact of glacial lake outburst floods on individual objects using a high-performance hydrodynamic model and open-source data
title_short Assessing the potential impact of glacial lake outburst floods on individual objects using a high-performance hydrodynamic model and open-source data
title_sort assessing the potential impact of glacial lake outburst floods on individual objects using a high-performance hydrodynamic model and open-source data
topic Environmental Sciences
object-based assessment
hydrodynamic flood modelling
open-source data
impact assessment
hazard exposure
Glacial lake outburst floods
url https://hdl.handle.net/2134/18865973.v1