Brief communication: An approximately 50 Mm3 ice-rock avalanche on 22 March 2021 in the Sedongpu valley, southeastern Tibetan Plateau

Chuanxi Zhao; Wei Yang; Matthew Westoby; Baosheng An; Guangjian Wu; Weicai Wang; Zhongyan Wang; Yongjie Wang; Stuart Dunning

doi:10.5194/tc-2021-306

Brief communication: An approximately 50 Mm³ice-rock avalanche on 22 March 2021 in the Sedongpu valley, southeastern Tibetan Plateau

Chuanxi Zhao, Wei Yang^*, Matthew Westoby, Baosheng An, Guangjian Wu, Weicai Wang, Zhongyan Wang, Yongjie Wang, Stuart Dunning

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

On 22 March 2021, an approximately 50 Mm3 ice-rock avalanche occurred from 6500 m a.s.l. in the Sedongpu basin, southeastern Tibet. The avalanche transformed into a highly mobile mass flow which temporarily blocked the Yarlung Tsangpo river. The avalanche flow lasted ∼ 5 min and produced substantial geomorphological reworking. This event, and previous ones from the basin, occurred concurrently with, or shortly after, positive seasonal air temperature anomalies. The occurrence of future large mass flows from the basin cannot be ruled out, and their impacts must be carefully considered given implications for sustainable hydropower and associated socioeconomic development in the region.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1333-1340
Number of pages	8
Journal	The Cryosphere
Volume	16
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-306 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1333-2022
Publication status	Published - 12 Apr 2022

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10.5194/tc-2021-306Licence: CC BY
10.5194/tc-16-1333-2022Licence: CC BY

tc-2021-306Submitted manuscript, 831 KBLicence: CC BY
tc-2021-306-typeset_manuscript-version6 (002)Accepted author manuscript, 5.83 MBLicence: CC BY
tc-16-1333-2022Final published version, 5.82 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Brief communication: An approximately 50 Mm3 ice-rock avalanche on 22 March 2021 in the Sedongpu valley, southeastern Tibetan Plateau",

abstract = "On 22 March 2021, an approximately 50 Mm3 ice-rock avalanche occurred from 6500 m a.s.l. in the Sedongpu basin, southeastern Tibet. The avalanche transformed into a highly mobile mass flow which temporarily blocked the Yarlung Tsangpo river. The avalanche flow lasted ∼ 5 min and produced substantial geomorphological reworking. This event, and previous ones from the basin, occurred concurrently with, or shortly after, positive seasonal air temperature anomalies. The occurrence of future large mass flows from the basin cannot be ruled out, and their impacts must be carefully considered given implications for sustainable hydropower and associated socioeconomic development in the region. ",

author = "Chuanxi Zhao and Wei Yang and Matthew Westoby and Baosheng An and Guangjian Wu and Weicai Wang and Zhongyan Wang and Yongjie Wang and Stuart Dunning",

note = "Funding Information: The study is supported by the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (STEP) (grant no. 2019QZKK0201), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 41961134035, 41988101), the Royal Society Newton Advanced Fellowship (grant no. NA170325), and the National Key Research and Development Project (grant no. 2019YFC1509102).",

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AU - Zhao, Chuanxi

AU - Yang, Wei

AU - Westoby, Matthew

AU - An, Baosheng

AU - Wu, Guangjian

AU - Wang, Weicai

AU - Wang, Zhongyan

AU - Wang, Yongjie

AU - Dunning, Stuart

N1 - Funding Information: The study is supported by the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (STEP) (grant no. 2019QZKK0201), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 41961134035, 41988101), the Royal Society Newton Advanced Fellowship (grant no. NA170325), and the National Key Research and Development Project (grant no. 2019YFC1509102).

PY - 2022/4/12

Y1 - 2022/4/12

N2 - On 22 March 2021, an approximately 50 Mm3 ice-rock avalanche occurred from 6500 m a.s.l. in the Sedongpu basin, southeastern Tibet. The avalanche transformed into a highly mobile mass flow which temporarily blocked the Yarlung Tsangpo river. The avalanche flow lasted ∼ 5 min and produced substantial geomorphological reworking. This event, and previous ones from the basin, occurred concurrently with, or shortly after, positive seasonal air temperature anomalies. The occurrence of future large mass flows from the basin cannot be ruled out, and their impacts must be carefully considered given implications for sustainable hydropower and associated socioeconomic development in the region.

AB - On 22 March 2021, an approximately 50 Mm3 ice-rock avalanche occurred from 6500 m a.s.l. in the Sedongpu basin, southeastern Tibet. The avalanche transformed into a highly mobile mass flow which temporarily blocked the Yarlung Tsangpo river. The avalanche flow lasted ∼ 5 min and produced substantial geomorphological reworking. This event, and previous ones from the basin, occurred concurrently with, or shortly after, positive seasonal air temperature anomalies. The occurrence of future large mass flows from the basin cannot be ruled out, and their impacts must be carefully considered given implications for sustainable hydropower and associated socioeconomic development in the region.

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JO - The Cryosphere

JF - The Cryosphere

IS - 4

ER -

Brief communication: An approximately 50 Mm³ice-rock avalanche on 22 March 2021 in the Sedongpu valley, southeastern Tibetan Plateau

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