Brief Communication: Rapid ~335 10⁶ m³ bed erosion after detachment of the Sedongpu Glacier (Tibet)

Abstract. Following the 130 106 m3 detachment of the Sedongpu Glacier (south-eastern Tibet) in 2018, the Sedongpu valleyunderwent drastic and rapid large-volume landscape changes. Between 2018 and 2022, and in particular during summer2021, an enormous volume of in total ~335±5 106 m3 was eroded from the former glacier bed, forming a new canyon of upto 300 m depth, 1 km width and almost 4 km length. The mass was transported into the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra)River and further. Several rock-ice avalanches of in total ~150±5 106 m3 added to the total rock, sediment and ice volume ofover 0.6 km3 that were exported from the basin since around 2017.