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Definition and classification system of glacial lake for inventory and hazards study

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Abstract

Glacial lakes are not only the important refresh water resources in alpine region, but also act as a trigger of many glacial hazards such as glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) and debris flow. Therefore, glacial lakes play an important role on the cryosphere, climate change and alpine hazards. In this paper, the issues of glacial lake were systematically discussed, then from the view of glacial lake inventory and glacial lake hazards study, the glacial lake was defined as natural water mainly supplied by modern glacial meltwater or formed in glacier moraine’s depression. Furthermore, a complete classification system of glacial lake was proposed based on its formation mechanism, topographic feature and geographical position. Glacial lakes were classified as 6 classes and 8 subclasses, i.e., glacial erosion lake (including cirque lake, glacial valley lake and other glacial erosion lake), moraine-dammed lake (including end moraine-dammed lake, lateral moraine-dammed lake and moraine thaw lake), ice-blocked lake (including advancing glacier-blocked lake and other glacier-blocked lake), supraglacial lake, subglacial lake and other glacial lake. Meanwhile, some corresponding features exhibiting on remote sensing image and quantitative indices for identifying different glacial lake types were proposed in order to build a universal and operational classification system of glacial lake.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Geography and Environment Sciences, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, 730070, China

    Xiaojun Yao, Meiping Sun & Linlin Zhao

  2. Yunnan Key Laboratory of International Rivers and Transboundary Eco-security, Kunming, 650500, China

    Shiyin Liu

  3. Institute of International Rivers and Eco-Security, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650091, China

    Shiyin Liu

  4. State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Sciences, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, CAS, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Shiyin Liu, Meiping Sun & Linlin Zhao

  5. Geological Survey Institute of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, 610081, China

    Lei Han

Authors
  1. Xiaojun Yao
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  2. Shiyin Liu
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  3. Lei Han
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  4. Meiping Sun
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  5. Linlin Zhao
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Correspondence to Xiaojun Yao.

Additional information

Foundation: National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41261016, No.41561016; Opening Foundation Projection of State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Sciences, CAS, No.SKLCS-OP-2016-10; Youth Scholar Scientific Capability Promoting Project of Northwest Normal University, No.NWNU-LKQN-14-4; Geological Survey Project of China Geological Survey, No.DD2016034206

Author: Yao Xiaojun (1980–), PhD and Associate Professor, specialized in the research of GIS and cryospheric change.

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Yao, X., Liu, S., Han, L. et al. Definition and classification system of glacial lake for inventory and hazards study. J. Geogr. Sci. 28, 193–205 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-018-1467-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-018-1467-z

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