IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/nathaz/v99y2019i1d10.1007_s11069-019-03705-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Historical beacon fire lines as early warning systems for glacier lake outbursts in the Hindu Kush–Karakoram Mountains

Author

Listed:
  • Lasafam Iturrizaga

    (University of Potsdam)

Abstract

The paper presents a historical long-distance communication system based on beacon fires in one of the most dynamic and rugged mountain ranges of the world, the Hindu Kush–Karakoram–Himalayas. It was deployed as an early warning system for glacial lake outburst floods, which caused devastating impacts on settlement zones and infrastructure until the middle of the twentieth century. The study revealed that the beacon fire systems were operated in distinct valleys spread over the entire Hindu Kush–Karakoram Region. The remarkable fact is the establishment of fire posts in highly difficult accessible mountain environments with communication distances of several hundred kilometres for individual beacon lines. The warning system was a cooperative natural hazard management, which was operated even across distinct ethnic groups. Distant societies, formerly perceived as isolated villages by physical barriers of the high mountain relief, were in historical times connected not only by challenging trade routes but also by a fast working optical communication system. The findings are discussed in the context of a future sustainable natural hazard management.

Suggested Citation

  • Lasafam Iturrizaga, 2019. "Historical beacon fire lines as early warning systems for glacier lake outbursts in the Hindu Kush–Karakoram Mountains," 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. 99(1), pages 39-70, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:99:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s11069-019-03705-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s11069-019-03705-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11069-019-03705-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11069-019-03705-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Baoling Yin & Jing Zeng & Yulun Zhang & Baojuan Huai & Yetang Wang, 2019. "Recent Kyagar glacier lake outburst flood frequency in Chinese Karakoram unprecedented over the last two centuries," 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. 95(3), pages 877-881, February.
    2. Richard Kattelmann, 2003. "Glacial Lake Outburst Floods in the Nepal Himalaya: A Manageable Hazard?," 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. 28(1), pages 145-154, January.
    3. Samjwal Ratna Bajracharya & Sudan Bikash Maharjan & Finu Shrestha & Wanqin Guo & Shiyin Liu & Walter Immerzeel & Basanta Shrestha, 2015. "The glaciers of the Hindu Kush Himalayas: current status and observed changes from the 1980s to 2010," International Journal of Water Resources Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(2), pages 161-173, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Susanne Schmidt & Marcus Nüsser & Ravi Baghel & Juliane Dame, 2020. "Cryosphere hazards in Ladakh: the 2014 Gya glacial lake outburst flood and its implications for risk assessment," 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. 104(3), pages 2071-2095, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Guili Sun & Yaning Chen & Weihong Li & Cunde Pan & Jiang Li & Yuhui Yang, 2013. "Spatial distribution of the extreme hydrological events in Xinjiang, north-west of China," 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. 67(2), pages 483-495, June.
    2. Mark Carey & Christian Huggel & Jeffrey Bury & César Portocarrero & Wilfried Haeberli, 2012. "An integrated socio-environmental framework for glacier hazard management and climate change adaptation: lessons from Lake 513, Cordillera Blanca, Peru," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 112(3), pages 733-767, June.
    3. D. Petrakov & O. Tutubalina & A. Aleinikov & S. Chernomorets & S. Evans & V. Kidyaeva & I. Krylenko & S. Norin & M. Shakhmina & I. Seynova, 2012. "Monitoring of Bashkara Glacier lakes (Central Caucasus, Russia) and modelling of their potential outburst," 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. 61(3), pages 1293-1316, April.
    4. R. K. Sharma & Pranay Pradhan & N. P. Sharma & D. G. Shrestha, 2018. "Remote sensing and in situ-based assessment of rapidly growing South Lhonak glacial lake in eastern Himalaya, India," 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. 93(1), pages 393-409, August.
    5. Fjóla Sigtryggsdóttir & Jónas Snæbjörnsson & Lars Grande & Ragnar Sigbjörnsson, 2015. "Methodology for geohazard assessment for hydropower projects," 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. 79(2), pages 1299-1331, November.
    6. Santosh Pathak & Hari Krishna Panta & Thaneshwar Bhandari & Krishna P. Paudel, 2020. "Flood vulnerability and its influencing factors," 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. 104(3), pages 2175-2196, December.
    7. Katarzyna Pukowiec-Kurda & Oimahmad Rahmonov & Michał Sobala & Urszula Myga-Piątek, 2021. "The Assessment of Hydrogeosites in the Fann Mountains, Tajikistan as a Basis for Sustainable Tourism," Resources, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-18, December.
    8. Gautam, Mahesh R. & Timilsina, Govinda R. & Acharya, Kumud, 2013. "Climate change in the Himalayas : current state of knowledge," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6516, The World Bank.
    9. Bohumír Janský & Zbyněk Engel & Miroslav Šobr & Vojtěch Beneš & Karel Špaček & Serguei Yerokhin, 2009. "The evolution of Petrov lake and moraine dam rupture risk (Tien-Shan, Kyrgyzstan)," 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. 50(1), pages 83-96, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:99:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s11069-019-03705-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.