GOTHECA-NOCK
A pilot study of the drivers and impacts of freshwater discharge from glacial systems in Norway and the Chinese Karakoram.
Glaciers to Lakes, Lakes to Rivers
This StoryMap covers Glacier Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) in Norway and Pakistan.
With the increased risk of GLOFs urgent action is needed as millions of people can be impacted in different ways.
Monitoring and early warning systems help preparedness. When the GLOF risk is high, sometimes it is possible to drain the potentially dangerous lakes to lower the water level. However, the mountainous terrain and remote location of the lakes often make it impossible. Instead, protective structures like embankments, dams, or spillways to control water flow can be built downstream.
It is important that the communities living downstream are prepared for GLOFs risks, have evacuation plans, and are capable of emergency response.
We still need to improve monitoring methods as well as our understanding of formation of glacial lakes, timing and triggers of the outbursts as well as the water flow downstream to be able to provide realistic, frequent risk evaluations and warning systems. It is also important that new infrastructure development like building roads or power plants in high-risk areas, and in extreme cases, the communities should relocate themselves if possible.
In this project, GRID-Arendal has worked together with our partners at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) and ICIMOD. This story map was made possible through the partnership with GOTHECA (Glacier impacts On The Hydrological systems in Europe and Central Asia) and their pilot study GOTHECA-NOCK.
Read More