Mapping hazards from glacier lake outburst floods based on modelling of process cascades at Lake 513, Carhuaz, Peru

Recent warming has had enormous impacts on glaciers and high-mountain environments. Hazards have changed or new ones have emerged, including those from glacier lakes that form as glaciers retreat. The Andes of Peru have repeatedly been severely impacted by glacier lake outburst floods in the past. An important recent event occurred in the Cordillera Blanca in 2010 when an ice avalanche impacted a glacier lake and triggered an outburst flood that affected the downstream communities and city of Carhuaz. In this study we evaluate how such complex cascades of mass movement processes can be simulated coupling different physically-based numerical models. We furthermore develop an approach that allows us to elaborate corresponding hazard maps according to existing guidelines for debris flows and based on modelling results and field work. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-35-145-2014 Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-88525 Published Version Originally published at: Schneider, Demian; Huggel, Christian; Cochachin, Alejo; Guillén, Sebastiàn; García, Javier (2014). Mapping hazards from glacier lake outburst floods based on modelling of process cascades at Lake 513, Carhuaz, Peru. Advances in Geosciences, 35:145-155. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-35-145-2014 Adv. Geosci., 35, 145–155, 2014 www.adv-geosci.net/35/145/2014/ doi:10.5194/adgeo-35-145-2014 © Author(s) 2014. CC Attribution 3.0 License. Advances in Geosciences O en A cess Mapping hazards from glacier lake outburst floods based on modelling of process cascades at Lake 513, Carhuaz, Peru D. Schneider1, C. Huggel1, A. Cochachin2, S. Guillén3, and J. García4 1Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland 2Unidad de Glaciología y Recursos Hídricos, Autoridad Nacional de Agua, Huaraz, Peru 3Laboratoire de constructions hydrauliques, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland 4CREALP, Centre de recherche sur l’environnement alpin, Sion, Switzerland Correspondence to: C. Huggel ([email protected]) Received: 8 February 2013 – Revised: 18 October 2013 – Accepted: 9 November 2013 – Published: 6 January 2014 Abstract. Recent warming has had enormous impacts on glaciers and high-mountain environments. Hazards have changed or new ones have emerged, including those from glacier lakes that form as glaciers retreat. The Andes of Peru have repeatedly been severely impacted by glacier lake outburst floods in the past. An important recent event occurred in the Cordillera Blanca in 2010 when an ice avalanche impacted a glacier lake and triggered an outburst flood that affected the downstream communities and city of Carhuaz. In this study we evaluate how such complex cascades of mass movement processes can be simulated coupling different physically-based numerical models. We furthermore develop an approach that allows us to elaborate corresponding hazard maps according to existing guidelines for debris flows and based on modelling results and field work. Recent warming has had enormous impacts on glaciers and high-mountain environments. Hazards have changed or new ones have emerged, including those from glacier lakes that form as glaciers retreat. The Andes of Peru have repeatedly been severely impacted by glacier lake outburst floods in the past. An important recent event occurred in the Cordillera Blanca in 2010 when an ice avalanche impacted a glacier lake and triggered an outburst flood that affected the downstream communities and city of Carhuaz. In this study we evaluate how such complex cascades of mass movement processes can be simulated coupling different physically-based numerical models. We furthermore develop an approach that allows us to elaborate corresponding hazard maps according to existing guidelines for debris flows and based on modelling results and field work.