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New lakes in deglaciating high-mountain regions – opportunities and risks

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Abstract

In connection with the ongoing disappearance of glaciers in cold mountains, a great number of new lakes come into existence. The sites and approximate formation time of such potential new lakes can be realistically modelled. This provides an important knowledge base for planning the management of at least the larger ones among such lakes. New water bodies can markedly increase the hazard and risk potential for down-valley areas in the long term, especially in relation to impact/flood waves triggered by rock/ice avalanches from the steep icy peaks surrounding them. However, they also offer opportunities for use in connection with tourism, water supply and hydropower production. Legal regulations and aspects of landscape protection and nature conservation have to be thereby carefully considered. Possible synergies and conflicts exist; they can be anticipated at an early stage by a matrix-type analysis of interrelations between the different perspectives involved. A corresponding inter- and transdisciplinary study was performed for the currently glacierized areas of the Swiss Alps. The results of this study may serve as an example for dealing with the consequences of rapid climate-induced changes in other populated regions with rugged icy mountains, such as the Peruvian Cordilleras or the Himalaya-Karakoram region.

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Acknowledgments

The present contribution summarizes and reflects the main results of the project NELAK (new lakes as a consequence of melting glaciers: opportunities and risks) as part of the Swiss National Research Programme NRP 61 on Sustainable Water Management (http://www.nfp61.ch/E/projects/cluster-hydrology/lakes_melting_glaciers/Pages/default.aspx and http://www.vdf.ethz.ch/service/3533/3534_Neue-Seen-als-Folge-des-Gletscherschwundes-im-Hochgebirge_OA.pdf); the project was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. We thank the Steering Committee of NRP 61 as well as all the colleagues and stakeholders from the scientific, administrative and economic sectors, who provided important input to our inter- and transdisciplinary project. This study has benefited from studies and experiences acquired in the Glaciares Project in Peru, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and in collaboration with CARE. We thank the editors and reviewers for their constructive feedback. Pamela Alean smoothed the English.

Author’s contributions

Wilfried Haeberli was the formal leader of the NELAK project, developed the structure of the present paper and drafted a first version based on the results and experiences gained in the NELAK project. All authors contributed to the project’s results and participated equally in the elaboration of the final publication, with special emphasis on hazards and risks (Christian Huggel, Yvonne Schaub), on hydropower (Anton J. Schleiss), on tourism (Therese Lehmann Friedli) and on legal matters (Michael Buetler).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geography Department, University of Zurich, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland

    Wilfried Haeberli, Christian Huggel & Yvonne Schaub

  2. Gloriastrasse 66, 8044, Zurich, Switzerland

    Michael Buetler

  3. Center for Regional Economic Development (CRED), University of Bern, 3001, Bern, Switzerland

    Therese Lehmann Friedli

  4. Laboratory of Hydraulic Constructions (LCH), Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Anton J. Schleiss

Authors
  1. Wilfried Haeberli
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  2. Michael Buetler
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  3. Christian Huggel
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  4. Therese Lehmann Friedli
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  5. Yvonne Schaub
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  6. Anton J. Schleiss
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Correspondence to Wilfried Haeberli.

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Haeberli, W., Buetler, M., Huggel, C. et al. New lakes in deglaciating high-mountain regions – opportunities and risks. Climatic Change 139, 201–214 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-016-1771-5

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