Flood complexity and rising exposure risk in High Mountain Asia under climate change
Creators
- 1. Key Laboratory for Water and Sediment Sciences, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- 2. State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of All Materials Flux in River Ecosystems, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- 3. Institute of Carbon Neutrality, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- 4. Institute of Tibetan Plateau, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- 5. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)
- 6. CSDMS, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0545, USA
- 7. Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- 8. Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Earth Surface Process, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610299, China
Description
High Mountain Asia (HMA), often called the “Asian Water Tower,” is a vital water source and ecosystem provider for millions downstream. Due to its high altitude and extensive cryosphere, HMA is highly vulnerable to climate change, currently warming at twice the global average. This has led to shifting precipitation patterns and increased flooding, particularly from glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), which pose serious risks to infrastructure and human lives. While monitoring of GLOFs has improved, other flood sources—like monsoons, heavy rainfall, snowmelt, and landslide-induced dam bursts—also cause devastating impacts. Notable examples include deadly floods in the southern Himalayas in 2023 and snowmelt-driven floods in Xinjiang in 2010, resulting in significant loss of life and economic damage
Additional details
Identifiers
Publishing information
- Title
- Science Bulletin
- Volume
- 70
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 1601-1604
Series
- Series name
- Short Communication