Glacial Lakes Outburst Floods Danger Could Be Faced By Using Geospatial Techniques:Dr. Arjmund

HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd September, 2016) : The US-Pakistan Centre for Advanced Studies in Water (USPCAS-W), Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET) organized a graduate seminar for its students at ORIC MUET Jamshoro on Friday.

According to university spokesman, the Senior Research Fellow of the Centre Dr. Arjumand Zaidi delivered lecture on Glacial Lake Outburst Flood in Hunza River Basin. In her lecture, she said that retreating glaciers are often responsible for forming lakes at their termini, which could turn to be dangerous.

She informed that recently some of glacier lakes have been created in Hindu Kash Hamaliyas (HKH) Region of Pakistan and rupturing of the dangerous lakes has caused several flooding called Glacial Lake Outburst Flooding (GLOF) in the region.

In the light of the study conducted for the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) on Vulnerability Assessment for Potential Glacial Lakes Outburst Floods (GLOFs) Events in Passu and Bagrot Valley, she informed that study revealed that the GLOF is a common problem in the HKH countries includes Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan.

She said it is pertinent to use of satellite data for glacier lake monitoring and flood extent modelling but the continuous monitoring of these lakes is still challenge due to their remote locations.

She said that GLOF mapping, using geospatial techniques could be helpful to develop a capacity of disaster management authorities and to develop early warning systems in the vulnerable areas and to respond and recover from emergency and disaster events.

The Faculty, Senior Management, and MS/PhD students of USPCAS-W, MUET participated in the graduate seminar, which was followed by the documentary and question/answer session. APP/jvd/abd/mdi