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Glacial lake outburst flood at Kedarnath, Indian Himalaya: a study using digital elevation models and satellite images

Author

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  • Sayantan Das
  • Nabendu Kar
  • Sunando Bandyopadhyay

Abstract

Kedarnath (3,533 m, 30°44′05″N, 79°04′02″E) is situated within a kilometre of the termini of the Chorabari and Companion glaciers in the Indian Himalaya. An outburst flood from a lake (3,845 m) formed by right lateral moraine of the former caused severe damage to the village on 17 June 2013. We determined various physical parameters of the lake from three digital elevation datasets (CartoDEM, SRTM and ASTER) and selected the SRTM-derived data as they appeared to portray the region more accurately. The obtained parameters were used in predictive equations suggested by different authors to estimate peak discharge of the flood. We also compared high-resolution images of 10 December 1965 (Corona), June 2011 (Bing) and 25 June 2013 (Catrosat-1 Pan + LISS-4mx) to assess the damage caused to the village besides other geomorphic changes. The results showed that at least 149 mm of rainfall in its 291-ha catchment was required to fill up the lake, without considering the presence of antecedent water and loss from seepage and evaporation. At the point of breaching, the lake released 0.43 × 10 6 m 3 of water with a peak discharge of 1,352 cumecs. The north-western section of Kedarnath village was on the direct path of the debris flow triggered by the flood and was almost completely destroyed. The southern and south-eastern sections were least affected. Out of 37,299 m 2 of pre-event roof area of Kedarnath (259 structures), 44.2 % were obliterated and 26.7 % were partly damaged, representing 138 and 56 structures, respectively. Only one-quarter of the structures of the village emerged intact or slightly affected after the event. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Sayantan Das & Nabendu Kar & Sunando Bandyopadhyay, 2015. "Glacial lake outburst flood at Kedarnath, Indian Himalaya: a study using digital elevation models and satellite images," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 77(2), pages 769-786, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:77:y:2015:i:2:p:769-786
    DOI: 10.1007/s11069-015-1629-6
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Yadong Zhang & Zongkun Li & Jianyou Wang & Wei Ge & Xinyan Guo & Te Wang, 2023. "Influence of soil infiltration and geomorphic change on main parameters of dam-break floods," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 115(3), pages 2223-2236, February.
    2. Munshi Md Shafwat Yazdan & Md Tanvir Ahad & Raaghul Kumar & Md Abdullah Al Mehedi, 2022. "Estimating Flooding at River Spree Floodplain Using HEC-RAS Simulation," J, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-17, October.

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