This study reports three examples of lake outbursts on the Tibetan Plateau. Reported outbursts involved huge amounts of water, threatened infrastructure and are worth reporting considering the implications for future outburst hazards in the region. The text is in general well-written and the manuscript is accompanied by rich figures of high quality and information content. However, it is bit confusing for the readers that the authors describe two outbursts (from Lake Zonag in 2011 and from Lake Selin Co in 2023) in some parts of the study, while the study also contains the information about another one from Lake Donggei Cuona in 2024. To make the study clearer, I suggest the authors to introduce separate study area section (including brief description of three GLOF sites described further in the text) and to describe the studied GLOFs in separate sub-sections of the Results. I also recommend to revise discussion section, put reported outbursts in the context of other outburst in the region and present solid implications of this research for understanding outburst occurrence there. Detailed suggestions / comments / questions are provided below:

L25: the 2011 GLOF has not accompained the 2023 peak – please reword

L29: Gt is not the unit of volume

L38: vertical motion of what?

L44: I suggest not to describe plateau lakes as alpine lakes (plateau environment and alpine environment differ in my understanding)

Fig. 1: you might mention that 1970 – 2018 data come from Zhang et al., 2019

L78: please provide a reference

L80: you actually describe three throughout the text

L82: field surveying is mentioned here but not described in methods and data section – please provide more details or delete it from here

L116: this is first time you mention this lake and outburst (see my general comment)

L152: please provide more details how did you set this value? Based on field measurements?

L158-160: what is the justification of this assumption?

L163: I suggest to distinguish outburst drivers (e.g., climate change) and mechanisms (dam breaching)

L181: please consider moving this section before 2.4

L230: representativeness for what?

Fig. 3: since the study highlights the impact of precipitation increase on lake evolution, I suggest to plot lake areas shown in parts a and c against precipitation data from Fig. 7. For part b, please consider adding arrows and description directly in photos, so it is easier to understand what they illustrate

L258: “water had reached he road” rather than “had accumulated near”?

L259: what signs of heavy precipitation?

L265; the precision of discharge to two decimal places is inappropriate considering uncertainties and assumptions of model inputs (including input hydrograph)

Fig. 4: “The outburst” instead of “outbursting process”?; i and j – km instead of m on x axis?

L286: how reliable is this number considering DEM resolution, accuracy and uncertainties of modelling?

L288-293: the distance between the two lakes (according to Fig. 4) is about 12 km. This gives average flood velocity < 1 km per hour. This is very slow, definitely not rapid as described here.

L292: agree about what?

L299: is this the case in the TP?

L300: how did you get this discharge? It is written in the >Methods that only the outburst of Selin Co was modelled. The 2,191 m3/s average discharge over 28 days gives outburst volume exceeding 5 km^3 (!!). Íf so, this is among the largest (maybe even the largest) outburst floods in the Anthropocene and it should be highlighted

Fig. 7: please add a trendline for part a and consider plotting this against lake area (see my suggestion above)

L312: I was also wondering whether is there possibly any substantial contribution from melting glaciers? Please discuss this

L330: this extreme precipitation prior the outbursts is not shown

Figs. 8-11: these figures are difficult link to outbursts of the two lakes. Maybe one synthesizing figure can be presented in the main manuscript and the rest goes to the supplement?

L411: how does it accelerated permafrost degradation?

L429: the recommendations mentioned in this section are general; to make stronger point, reported events should be put in the context of other GLOFs documented from the TP (in terms of outburst timing, drivers, etc.)

To sum up, I’m convinced this study fits well in the journal and would be of interest for the readers. I recommend revisions of the structure, introduction of a separate study area section and revision of the discussion section (moderate to major revisions).

General comments:

The manuscript presents interesting case studies that contribute to the understanding of outburst processes and introduces valuable data that could enhance knowledge of natural hazards. However, the depth of the presentation and interpretation is somewhat lacking. Conclusions are often drawn too quickly, with the authors frequently suggesting the need for further research without fully engaging with the existing data. This limits the overall impact of the study.

The explanation of methods and the presentation of results are imprecise. Some data and results, particularly in Section 3.3, are introduced abruptly, and the connection to broader findings is not always clear. Moreover, the discussion is superficial, leaving the reader with unanswered questions about the mechanisms being studied.

A significant issue lies with the figures, which, while containing essential information and most of the results presented, are often difficult to interpret. The explanations provided are too brief. Clearer, more detailed descriptions and better-structured visual aids are needed to improve the flow of information and help readers understand the material presented. Additionally, numerous textual errors and a lack of precision in technical details reduce the manuscript's clarity and understanding, weakening its overall impact.

Specific comments

L46-48: Why are alpine lakes considered sentinels of climate change?

L107-L116: It is not very clear how the PlanetScope imagery was used. Was it employed as orthophoto for visual interpretation and lake delineation, or was it to compute NDWI using the NIR and Green bands?

L133: “The area-water level relationship was used to obtain water levels from the 1970s to 2023.” It’s not clear what relationship the authors are referring to here.

L118-134: If I understood correctly, they calculated water levels using Sentinel-3 for the period ranging from 2016-2024 and using CryoSat-2 for 2010-2020? Did the authors intend to have this overlap? Or did I miss something? This section (2.2) could be slightly rearranged to improve readability.

L148: What is the resolution of NASADEM? Is it relevant to use that data source to define the depth of the breach for modeling?

L152-153: How did the authors estimate the depth of the breach? It’s only written “due to the flat topography,” but I’m wondering how they concluded it was 0.8m?

L153: How did they determine the breach formation time? Were there any eyewitness accounts?

L154: Based on which parameters did the authors set the Manning roughness to 0.04?

L184: What do the authors mean by “long- and short-changes”?

L233: Is there any measurement of Zonag Lake’s area between August 22, 2011, and September 15, 2011?

Figures 3i and 3j: What are they used for? What do they illustrate? I’m not sure how they contribute to the interpretation.

In Figure 4, I’m not sure how the profile P1-P2 is relevant.

Figures 6g and 6h: It might be interesting to add the location of the built dam. I think I misunderstood something because, regarding Figures 6e and 6g, it seems that the water depth increased between September 28 and October 13, but the inset shows no variation.

Figures 7a and 7b: What about the peaks in 2008 and 2002, respectively, for Selin Co and Zonag Lake? Did they induce any hazards in the region?

L316-317: The authors stipulate, “In addition, seismic events prior to the breach may have weakened the geological stability of the dam (Liu et al., 2016).” I found this statement a bit vague. I would prefer some specifics about these events (location, intensity, impact).

Figures 8e and 8f need to be described in more detail for non-expert readers (the explanation of the x-axis comes in Figure 9, but it should be detailed earlier).

L330: I don’t clearly see the “continuous heavy or extreme precipitation prior to the outburst” mentioned by the authors.

L375: “…with the wave train in 2011 being relatively flat and the wave train in 2023 being curved.” What does this observation imply?

L395: “Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO).” A few words about this would be appropriate. Also, the authors cite “2023,” but is that correct? What is the year 2023 referencing?

L437-442: “This outburst resulted in a significant increase in discharge pressure in the downstream river channels, which had substantial impacts on human living environments, affecting five townships and resulting in the death of approximately 195 livestock. Additionally, about 24.95 km of roads and pastoral paths and some water management facilities were destroyed by flooding, and some pastures were also inundated. Emergency repairs were promptly undertaken, and the damaged gate was sealed on February 21.” Any citation for this information?

Technical corrections

L52: “The significant expansion of these lakes could potentially threaten the fragile …”

Figure 1: a. The areas corresponding to Zonag Lake basin and Selin Co basin could be colored in a darker grey because they are not very visible as they are. Perhaps the authors could use the same blue as in Fig. 1a-1 and 1a-2. Additionally, orange is used in Fig. 1a-1 to show the diversion engineering, but it shows a newly formed channel in Fig. 1a-2. The authors could consider using another color. “Lake” is missing in the legend of Fig. 1a-1, and I believe it should be “Newly formed channel” and not “formd” in the legend of Fig. 1a-2.

Figure 1a-1 refers to Salt Lake, but it is not mentioned in the text. What about Yanhu Lake mentioned on line 65?

Figure 1a-2: Correct "formd" to "formed" in the legend.

L97-99: The authors could quantify what they meant by “low cloud cover” and specify which months?

L100: Use “Green” instead of “GREEN.”

L107: Since the authors specify the spatial resolution of PlanetScope satellite images, they might also add the spatial resolutions of Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8, which were also used.

The authors could add references regarding the technical specifications of the satellites, as an example: “Since June 2016, over 430+ Doves and SuperDoves sensors from the PlanetScope mission have been launched into 475-525 km sun-synchronous orbits, circling the Earth every 90 minutes.” [L108-110], or “Sentinel-3A and Sentinel-3B were launched in February 2016 and April 2018, respectively, both equipped with a dual-frequency (Ku and C-band) Synthetic Aperture Radar Altimeter operating in open-loop mode with a cycle period of 27 days, providing high-quality observations of lake water levels.” [L120-123].

Equation 1: What does “Halt” stand for?

L187: Be consistent in writing dates.

L239: Be consistent with the names of the lakes (i.e., Hedin Noel Lake differs in Figure 3a).

Figure 3: Due to the size of the second graph focusing on the years 2022 to 2024, Figure 3c appears unclear. Perhaps the readability of this graph could be improved.

Figures 4, 5d, and 6: The authors should add a scale and a North arrow.

Typographical Error: "Flood conditions on September 27, 2023" (also correct “September 28” on the left side of the figure).

Figure 8a-d: Please add the locations of Zonag Lake and Selin Co.

Figures 8e and 8f must be described in more detail for non-expert readers (the explanation of the x-axis comes in Figure 9, but it should be detailed earlier).

The legend of Figure 9 is unclear; the letters are not in order, and there is no consistency in the typographical style used (e.g., (i) is not in bold).