Articles | Volume 25, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1207-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1207-2025
Research article
 | 
28 Mar 2025
Research article |  | 28 Mar 2025

Causes, consequences and implications of the 2023 landslide-induced Lake Rasac glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF), Cordillera Huayhuash, Peru

Adam Emmer, Oscar Vilca, Cesar Salazar Checa, Sihan Li, Simon Cook, Elena Pummer, Jan Hrebrina, and Wilfried Haeberli

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Cited articles

ANA: Inventario Nacional de Glaciares y Lagunas, https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12543/199 (last access: 8 January 2025), 2014. 
ASF: ALOS PALSAR, © JAXA/METI ALOS PALSAR; PALSAR_Radiometric_Terrain_Corrected_high_res, accessed through ASF DAAC in 2024, https://doi.org/10.5067/Z97HFCNKR6VA, 2024. 
Bat'ka, J., Vilímek, V., Štefanová, E., Cook, S. J., and Emmer, A.: Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) in the Cordillera Huayhuash, Peru: Historic events and current susceptibility, Water, 12, 2664, https://doi.org/10.3390/w12102664, 2020. 
Boeckli, L., Brenning, A., Gruber, S., and Noetzli, J.: Permafrost distribution in the European Alps: calculation and evaluation of an index map and summary statistics, The Cryosphere, 6, 807–820, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-807-2012, 2012. 
Bondesan, A. and Francese, R. G.: The climate-driven disaster of the Marmolada Glacier (Italy), Geomorphology, 431, 108687, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2023.108687, 2023. 
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Short summary
We describe in detail the most recent large landslide-triggered glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in the Peruvian Andes (the 2023 Rasac GLOF), analysing its preconditions and consequences, as well as the role of the changing climate. Our study contributes to understanding GLOF occurrence patterns in space and time and corroborates reports detailing the increasing frequency of such events in changing mountains.
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