ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 21 November 2018 doi: 10.3389/feart.2018.00210 Multi-Source Glacial Lake Outburst Flood Hazard Assessment and Mapping for Huaraz, Cordillera Blanca, Peru Holger Frey 1*, Christian Huggel 1, Rachel E. Chisolm 2†, Patrick Baer 1†, Brian McArdell 3, Alejo Cochachin 4 and César Portocarrero 5† 1 Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, 2 Center for Research in Water Resources, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States, 3 Mountain Hydrology and Mass Movements Research Unit, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland, 4 Autoridad Nacional del Agua – Unidad de Glaciología y Recursos Hídricos (ANA-UGRH), Huaraz, Peru, 5 Área Glaciares, Instituto Nacional de Investigación Edited by: en Glaciares y Ecosistemas de Montaña (INAIGEM), Huaraz, Peru Davide Tiranti, Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione The Quillcay catchment in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru, contains several glacial lakes, Ambientale (ARPA), Italy including Lakes Palcacocha (with a volume of 17 × 106 m3), Tullparaju (12 × 106 m3), Reviewed by: 6 3 Dhananjay Anant Sant, and Cuchillacocha (2 × 10 m ). In 1941 an outburst of Lake Palcacocha, in one of Maharaja Sayajirao University of the deadliest historical glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF) worldwide, destroyed large Baroda, India Fabio Matano, parts of the city of Huaraz, located in the lowermost part of the catchment. Since Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche this outburst, glaciers, and glacial lakes in Quillcay catchment have undergone drastic (CNR), Italy changes, including a volume increase of Lake Palcacocha between around 1990 and *Correspondence: 2010 by a factor of 34. In parallel, the population of Huaraz grew exponentially to more Holger Frey
[email protected] than 120,000 inhabitants nowadays, making a comprehensive assessment and mapping of GLOF hazards for the Quillcay catchment and the city of Huaraz indispensable.