Remote sensing investigation and influence factor analysis of glacier lake outburst potential in the Himalayas

Under the impact of formation conditions and natural environment , moraine -dammed lake outbursts take place frequently and then give rise to floods and mudslides , which menaces people's production , life, survival and development and becomes one of the great geohazard hidden dangers in the Himalayas .Using QuickBird and ETM data of remote sensing satellite and combining the investigations in field work , the authors studied the glacier lake outburst potential .The research results show that the areal distribution of glacier lakes presents a trend of decrease gradually from SE to NW in the Himalayas .Most of the glacier lakes are distributed in Shannan , Shigatse , Nyingchi and Ngari .The region of maximal distribution density is Lho -brag area of Shannan .It can be found that there are nineteen glacier lakes , all of which are moraine -dammed lakes that have outburst hazard potential . Among the nineteen glacier lakes , there are 13 glacier lakes having great outburst hazard potential and 6 glacier lakes having secondary great outburst hazard potential .It is also indicated that there are several trigger factors impacting instability of moraine -dammed lakes, whose foremost reasons are surge triggered by avalanche , bedrock collapse , and rock avalanche around the moraine -dammed lakes .