Articles | Volume 10, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-723-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-723-2022
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

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Cited articles

Alley, R. B., Lawson, D. E., Larson, G. J., Evenson, E. B., and Baker, G. S.: Stabilizing feedbacks in glacier-bed erosion, Nature, 424, 758–760, 2003. 
Anacona, P. I., Kinney, J., Schaefer, M., Harrison, S., Wilson, R., Segovia, A., Mazzorana, B., Guerra, F., Farías, D., Reynolds, J. M., and Glasser, N. F.: Glacier protection laws: Potential conflicts in managing glacial hazards and adapting to climate change, Ambio, 47, 835–845, 2018. 
Antoniazza, G. and Lane, S. N.: Sediment yield over glacial cycles: A conceptual model, Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment, 45, 842–865, 2021. 
Ballantyne, C. K.: Paraglacial geomorphology, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 21, 1935–2017, 2002 
Benn, D. I. and Evans, D. J.: Glaciers and Glaciation, 2nd ed, Hodder Education, London, 802 p., ISBN 9780340905791, 2010. 
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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.
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