A catastrophic landslide on 28th May 2025 resulted in devastating damage to the village of Blatten in Switzerland. About 90% of the village was destroyed or covered with debris, resulting in a major catastrophe. Seeing Blatten buried again and again, from every angle… Properly staggering! 😮😱 [image or embed] — Melaine Le Roy (@subfossilguy.bsky.social) 28 […]
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What is risk? In physical sciences, risk is defined as a function of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability 1. Thus, whether or not something poses a risk depends on a wide range of factors within these categories. As a result, the risk of the same hazards e.g. a flood, can vary. Below we explore each contributing
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What are cascade hazards? Cascade hazards can occur when more than one hazard interact. Primary hazards (e.g. avalanches and landslides) can often trigger secondary hazards (e.g. flooding and debris flows). As a result, the impacts are extended further downstream 1,2. Cascade hazards are difficult to predict and even harder to model 4 , therefore are
Glacial lake hazards | Flooding | Case Study 1 | Case Study 2 | Summary Increasing glacial lakes In recent decades glacial lake hazards have increased due to accelerated glacial mass loss and retreat leading to the expansion of existing glacial lakes and formation of new lakes 1,2. As a result, glacial lakes now exist
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Introduction | Types of glacial lakes | Moraine-dammed | Ice-dammed | Bedrock-dammed | Supraglacial | Subglacial | Summary What are glacial lakes and where are they found? During the last few decades, accelerated ice mass loss and glacial retreat has resulted not only the expansion of existing glacial lakes but also the formation of new
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Introduction | Case study 1 | Case study 2 | Summary What is glacial surging? Glacial surging refers to the sudden movement of ice over a relatively short period of time resulting in rapid glacier advance that is different from the usual glacier activity 1. Examples of surging can be found across the world, e.g.
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Introduction | Mass Movements | Rockfall and Avalanches | Ice and snow avalanches | Landslide and debris flow | Case Study What are glacial hazards? Generally, there are two types of hazards found in glacial environments that can impact humans. First, we have direct hazards such as avalanches and rockfalls. Second, we have indirect hazards
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Glaciers, snow and ice are sensitive to climate warming, and changes in these can lead to serious hazards to human society1. Melting snow and ice and glacier recession in high mountains and polar environments can lead to destabilisation, including glacier collapse, rock and ice avalanche, glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFS), and glacier collapse.
By Alex Hyde The sub-tropical glaciers of Bhutan Bhutan is a small mountainous nation located in the Eastern Himalaya, with a population of around 727 000 people (Figure 1). The country has a sub-tropical climate in its south, where it borders lowland plains, and a Himalayan subalpine climate to the north where it meets the
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By Caroline Taylor What is a glacial lake outburst flood? Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) refer to the sudden release of meltwater and sediment from a dammed lake1. Across the globe there are many types of glacial lake dams, including moraine-dams, ice-dams, bedrock-dams, and landslide-dams 2, all of which can produce GLOFs. Why are
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