Climate Variability and Change—Hydrological Impacts (Proceedings of the Fifth FRIEND World Conference held at Havana, Cuba, November 2006), IAHS Publ. 308, 2006, 460–465.

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Climate change impacts on glacial lakes and glacierized basins in Nepal and implications for water resources

SURESH RAJ CHALISE¹, MADAN LALL SHRESTHA², OM RATNA BAJRACHARYA² & ARUN BHAKTA SHRESTHA²

1 Snow and Glacier Hydrology Group, HKH-FRIEND, GPO Box 4965, Kathmandu, Nepal

srchalise@mcmail.com.np

2 Department of Hydrology & Meteorology (DHM), Babar Mahal, GPO Box 406, Kathmandu, Nepal

Abstract An increasing number of glacial lakes have been observed in recent years in Nepal and other Himalayan countries. Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) causing destruction of life, agricultural land, hydropower installations, and other costly infrastructure have also occurred more frequently in recent years in Nepal, Tibet (China) and elsewhere in the Himalayas. Recent temperature and discharge data from the Tsho Rolpa glacial lake (4580 m a.s.l.) and two rivers from glacierized basins, Langtang (3900 m a.s.l) and Imja (4200 m a.s.l), were analysed. An increasing trend of warming and discharge were observed at high elevation. The potential impacts of climate change in Nepal Himalaya are likely to be seen in terms of increasing numbers of disastrous flood events, including GLOFs, and in the long-term reduced low flows. These will have implications for water resources development in Nepal and its neighbour, India.

Key words climate change; glaciers; glacial lake; glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF); low flow; water resources; Himalayas; India; Nepal; Tibet (China)

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