Volume, evolution, and sedimentation of future glacier lakes in Switzerland over the 21st century

Steffen, Tim; Huss, Matthias; Estermann, Rebekka; Hodel, Elias; Farinotti, Daniel

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-723-2022

Articles | Volume 10, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-723-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-723-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 10, issue 4

Research article

|

14 Jul 2022

Research article |

| 14 Jul 2022

Volume, evolution, and sedimentation of future glacier lakes in Switzerland over the 21st century

Tim Steffen, Matthias Huss, Rebekka Estermann, Elias Hodel, and Daniel Farinotti

Data sets

Volume, evolution and sedimentation of future glacier lakes in Switzerland over the 21st century - dataset Tim Steffen, Matthias Huss, Rebekka Estermann, Elias Hodel, and Daniel Farinotti https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000554650

Short summary

Climate change is rapidly altering high-alpine landscapes. The formation of new lakes in areas becoming ice free due to glacier retreat is one of the many consequences of this process. Here, we provide an estimate for the number, size, time of emergence, and sediment infill of future glacier lakes that will emerge in the Swiss Alps. We estimate that up to ~ 680 potential lakes could form over the course of the 21st century, with the potential to hold a total water volume of up to ~ 1.16 km³.