FW: Imja lake image

[Jeffrey Kargel]

Dear GLIMS and GAPHAZ members and GLIMS sponsor (NASA),
As I'll report shortly to those of you not on the expedition, we had a successful deployment on Imja Lake (near Mount Everest) of a radio control boat with sonar on Oct 12-13, first on one of the ponds on the terminal moraine and then over the west end of the main lake.  We also have great helicopter-borne hi-def video and rapid-fire 18 Mpixel still imagery, which will be used for digital terrain generation, which will be used to examine changes in the future.
I also just reviewed Dhurba Basnet's partially edited series of video, showing both the cultural and scientific aspects of our expedition.  How wonderful!
I refer you to a recent ALI (Earth Observatory) press release of Imja Lake, http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=46405&src=eoa-iotd.Bruce Raup kindly alerted me to it.  I am pleased to see NASA imaging resources dedicating attention to the Himalaya, and this lake.  I write with one concern in mind about the press release.
Since this expedition was funded by NASA/GLIMS, and things are moving so swiftly with documentary production (both Dhurba's and the Discovery-Asia documentary filmed by Pat Fries) and also with this press release, I am thinking that we have to develop a press release  or Eos article to show the how and why of our expedition and the state of this lake.  I want to emphasize the politically and humanly sensitive nature of any discussion of glacier lake hazards in general, and the necessity of making sure that any public statements about hazards are scientifically based.  Imja Tso has been listed as one of the three most dangerous Nepali lakes by one study; however, a key finding by our colleagues at ICIMOD is that this lake is much more stable than had been supposed by some researchers a few years ago, and any revised listing of "Nepal's Most Dangerous Lakes" would not likely include this lake or would qualify its inclusion and place low on the list.  It is, however, continuing a rapid evolution initiated in the early 1960's, and that morphological development warrants close monitoring due to its basic science interest, due to intense scrutiny and a rich data archive, its applicability to process inferences to other lakes, and due to its potential future redevelopment in future decades in ways that may reintroduce heightened concern.  I would state here categorically that this particular lake, at this time, does not appear to pose an exceptional hazard.  Like any large alpine lake in areas of high relief, some combination of natural catastrophes, such as a large earthquake and mass movements, could of course change the situation abruptly, but this is just a "normal" part of existing anywhere in a highly active plate tectonic convergent zone and does not elevate this lake's hazard potential to anything that should be unduly concerning to residents (in my opinion).  Fortunately the press release does not indicate any alarming shift in the lake's dynamics, and our expedition clearly concurs with this absence of alarm.
Related to the phrasing of text in the ALI press release, I must disavow any connection of the press release to GLIMS.  That was not our work, not our words.  The caption is not especially inaccurate, but I generally have concern about press releases that make relatively casual reference to glacial hazards and tends to elevate the hazard due to one situation by citing another situation, as this press release does.  Perhaps more so, I would just rather see more consultation with the local experts and agencies, and not see references to gray literature, which was at the root of the "2035" fiasco.  I don't think this ALI press release verges toward that, but I am wanting to institute more order in how we use NASA resources and media outlets to report these types of things. 
GLIMS will promptly prepare a press release or Eos article or conference abstract DRAFT to summarize the state of the lake and the hazard situation as best we understand it.  I will submit the DRAFT to ICIMOD and Tribhuvan University experts and invite their participation, and that of GAPHAZ, in production of a clarifying statement to place the ALI press release into context.  At the same time, I will disavow any press statements made regarding the GLIMS project at Imja Lake that have not been cleared by GLIMS (ultimately me), ICIMOD, and Tribhuvan University, since this was a joint project.   
Bruce: Thanks for the heads-up on the ALI acquisition (Oct 4, 2010).  There was also a recent (August or September 2010) ASTER image, with partial clouds, but useful nonetheless.  Our in situ observations indicate recent calving of the glacier's leading edge (minor calving; nothing overly dramatic, but still a part of the evolving glacier and lake).    Greg: Can you obtain the ALI scene, as well as older ASTER scenes, and then we can extend Sharad's lake development time series?
--Jeff Kargel


> Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 18:05:45 -0600
> From: braup at nsidc.org
> To: jeffreyskargel at hotmail.com
> Subject: Imja lake image
> 
> Jeff,
> 
> See the link to an image of Imja Tsho below.
> 
> Bruce
> 
> -- 
> Bruce H. RAUP
> National Snow and Ice Data Center
> University of Colorado
> 449 UCB,  Boulder, CO 80309
> Phone:  303-492-8814
> http://cires.colorado.edu/~braup/
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 18:30:02 -0400 (EDT)
> From: eo-announce at lists.nasa.gov
> To: eo-announce at lists.nasa.gov
> Subject: [eo-announce] Earth Observatory: What's New Week of 19 October 2010
> 
> 
> The latest from NASA's Earth Observatory (19 October 2010)
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Latest Images:
> http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/
> 
> * Susitna Glacier, Alaska
>    http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=46449&src=eoa-iotd
> 
> * Super Typhoon Megi
>    http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=46425&src=eoa-iotd
> 
> * Pyramid Lake, Nevada
>    http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=46402&src=eoa-iotd
> 
> * Imja Tsho, Nepal
>    http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=46405&src=eoa-iotd
> 
> * Fall Colors in the Allegheny Mountains
>    http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=46394&src=eoa-iotd
> 
> * Hurricane Paula
>    http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=46384&src=eoa-iotd
> 
> * Smog over China
>    http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=46375&src=eoa-iotd
> 
> * Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah
>    http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=46365&src=eoa-iotd
> 
> --------------------
> 
> Recent Blog Posts:
> http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/
> 
> Elegant Figures
> * Tropical Storm Danielle
>    Strong convection created ???hot towers??? near the eye of Tropical Storm Danielle.
>    http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/elegantfigures/?p=215&src=eoa-blogs
> 
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