According to India’s Central Water Commission (CWC) website, flash floods caused by the bursting of glacial lakes are called Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF).
Such floods happen when glacial meltwater breaks through moraine dams which are deposits of ice and debris collected from a glacial sheet. When large glacial sheets retreat, they leave behind a huge impression on the ground where water collects and moraines usually act as natural dams for these lakes.
But with rising water levels, moraine dams may collapse causing the water to burst out and create floods or a GLOF which impact downstream communities and infrastructure.
Another way that a GLOF can get triggered are when waves are formed due to avalanches or rockfalls or glacial ice that end up breaking moraine dams. Dam failures can also happen due to water seepage.
GLOFs are known to occur in Himalayan regions where such lakes had often been formed by landslides.
“GLOFs have immense potential of flooding in downstream areas,…