Glacier Dynamics, Cryospheric Changes, and GLOF Hazards Under 21st Century Climate Scenarios

Mountain glaciology and cryospheric science are revealing rapid changes across high-latitude and high-mountain regions, where glaciers, permafrost, snow, and ice contribute to freshwater storage and regulate downstream runoff. Accelerated glacier mass loss, thinning, retreat, and fragmentation are exposing new terrain, expanding proglacial lakes, and increasing the instability of moraine- and ice-dammed systems. These changes raise important questions about how glacier and glacial lake dynamics will evolve under different climate scenarios, how changing cryospheric conditions will affect water availability, and where cascading hazards such as glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), debris flows, and rock–ice avalanches may emerge. Recent advances in satellite geodesy, optical and radar remote sensing, InSAR, high-resolution topography, in situ monitoring, machine learning, and coupled hydrological–hydrodynamic modelling have improved the observation and simulation of these processes. However, substantial gaps remain in long-term monitoring, cross-regional comparability, uncertainty quantification, process-chain modelling, and the integration of physical hazard assessments with exposure, vulnerability, local knowledge, and adaptation planning.This Research Topic aims to advance quantitative and interdisciplinary understanding of how mountain and high-latitude cryospheric systems are reorganising under twenty-first century climate change and how these transformations propagate into downstream water resources and hazard exposure. It seeks to assess glacier mass balance, area change, ice dynamics, runoff, and deglaciation pathways through 2100 under contemporary warming and emissions scenarios; improve understanding of glacial lake formation, expansion, drainage, and dam stability; and strengthen the assessment of GLOF susceptibility, downstream impacts, and cascading hazard processes. The Research Topic also aims to evaluate monitoring and early-warning approaches, integrate observational and modelling evidence, and generate actionable knowledge for water security, risk reduction, and climate adaptation in glacierised and recently deglaciated basins.To gather further insights into cryospheric change, glacier-fed water resources, and hazard dynamics across mountain and high-latitude regions, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:- Glacier mass balance, retreat, area change, and ice dynamics under climate change.- Projections of glacier evolution, deglaciation, and glacier-fed runoff to 2100.- Changes in runoff seasonality, water availability, hydropower, and water security.- Glacial lake formation, expansion, drainage, and inventory development using multi-sensor remote sensing and automated detection methods, including machine learning.- Moraine- and ice-dam stability, breach processes, and GLOF susceptibility.- Hydrodynamic modelling of GLOFs, debris flows, inundation, sediment transport, and downstream impacts.- Permafrost degradation, slope instability, rock–ice avalanches, and cascading cryosphere-related hazards.- Ground deformation and surface-change monitoring, including remote sensing, InSAR, in situ instrumentation, machine learning, real-time monitoring networks, and early-warning systems for cryospheric change and GLOF risk.- Exposure, vulnerability, socio-economic impacts, local and Indigenous knowledge, risk communication, community preparedness, and adaptation planning in glacierised and recently deglaciated basins.- Data–model integration, uncertainty assessment, open datasets, and reproducible modelling frameworks. Accepted article types include Original Research, Reviews, Methods, Data Reports, and Perspectives. Topic editors: Asim Qayyum Butt, Waseem Muhammad, ABHISHEK BANERJEE Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84593/glacier-dynamics-cryospheric-changes-and-glof-hazards-under-21st-century-climate-scenarios