Potentially Dangerous Moraine-Dammed Glacial Lakes for Outburst in the Nepal Himalaya

As a result of global warming and climate change, growing population and development, mountainous regions are facing increasing frequencies of glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) resulting in destructive impacts on infrastructure, human and natural resources. The outburst is most familiar from moraine-dammed type glacial lakes because of the erosion failure of the dam by overtopping of lake water. In the present context, this chapter explores an up-to-date mapping of the moraine dammed glacial lakes (MDGLs) located along the southern slopes of the NepalNépal Himalayan ranges employing remote sensing data, aiming to study variations of their respective surface areas with time from 1990 to 2015, segregated over six spanning. The analysis also incorporates the evaluation for propensity of the MDGLs to the GLOF with the least criteria decision analysis (LCDA). The study also aims to propose a co-relation index between changing area of MDGLs and incidence of the GLOF by accounting the LCDA (only two criteria reflected) method. This index can be used to detect the highly susceptible MDGLs and the affected river catchment area for the future probable GLOF events. The outcomes are ultimately contributed to the mountainous urbanization planning.