Matt Westoby

Absolutely incredible flash flood of a Khir Ganga tributary at Dharali village (2540 m, Uttarakhand, India) today at midday! 😱
The tributary catchment peaks at Mt Srikantha (6133 m)

The violence and extent of the destruction is unbelievable🏠🌊
At least 4 fatalities
1/

Via @ranvijaylive

05.08.2025 12:32 — 👍 42    🔁 17    💬 2    📌 1

Leveraging gridded population data products for enhancing geohazard risk assessment. - Scottish Graduate School of Social Science Spatially detailed population data products in grid-based format have become increasingly abundant in recent years, contribute to a range of geospatial applications. One application is assessing popul...

🏔️🌊 Fully funded #PhD opportunity working with me on predicting the impact of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs).

“Leveraging gridded population data products for enhancing geohazard risk assessment”

Deadline 10 April 5pm.

Funded by @sgsss.bsky.social

www.sgsss.ac.uk/studentship/...

14.03.2025 09:37 — 👍 5    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 0

Photograph showing automobiles and buildings buried under the sediments deposited by the flood cascade at Rangpo. Photo credits: Praful Rao

New paper today in @science.org focused on unraveling the chain of events that led to the 2023 Teesta disaster, which resulted in about 130 people either dead or missing in Sikkim, India. Short thread to follow. 🧪⚒️ doi.org/10.1126/scie...

30.01.2025 19:13 — 👍 98    🔁 32    💬 5    📌 3

Photo showing a braided river with mountains in the background

📸BSG ART COMPETITION 2024🎨
🚨FIVE days🚨

Scroll through your field photos or get out your paint brush #geomorphology

Prizes:
£100 🥇
£50 🥈🥉
Deadline: 10th Jan
T&Cs: geomorphology.org.uk/2024/11/26/n...
Make sure you tag us, #BSGAC24 and add a caption!

06.01.2025 18:12 — 👍 18    🔁 14    💬 4    📌 2

Hi Ankit - do encourage excellent candidates who completed Masters study earlier this year to apply 😀 We should be returning to Uttarakhand in mid-March - perhaps catch you then!

18.12.2024 13:02 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Enhanced warming of European mountain permafrost in the early 21st century - Nature Communications Permafrost in Europe’s mountains has warmed by more than 1 °C per decade in certain places, matching the levels in Arctic lowlands. The strongest warming occurred at cold bedrock at the highest elevat...

Excited to share our new study showing that permafrost in Europe's mountains has warmed by more than 1 °C per decade in certain places, matching the levels in Arctic lowlands www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@naturecomms.bsky.social @natureportfolio.bsky.social #permafrost #cryosphere #climatechange

11.12.2024 09:20 — 👍 39    🔁 27    💬 1    📌 1

The confluence of the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi Rivers in northern India, which forms the source of the Ganges. Photo highlights the contrast between the heavily sediment-laden Alaknanda, and the comparatively sediment-free Bhagirathi.

🌍 Fully-funded #PhD @ University of Plymouth:

"Monitoring and managing the impacts of extreme sediment-rich flows in fluvial systems" 🌊

www.aries-dtp.ac.uk/studentships...

Deadline 8 Jan 2025. Starts Oct 2025. Funding through www.aries-dtp.ac.uk

Please share, thanks!

#Geoscience #ClimateChange

11.12.2024 16:30 — 👍 7    🔁 5    💬 1    📌 0

Hazards assessment of glacier surge-dammed lakes and glacial lake outburst floods | UCL Trees Glacial lakes in high mountain environments present a hazard to downstream communities because they can drain abruptly as glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). Whilst a large amount of attention is pa...

www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/haz...

with Faith Taylor (KCL) and me.

Please share!

@treesdla.bsky.social

06.12.2024 16:00 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Mountain glacier response to climate change | UCL Trees Mountain glaciers are sensitive indicators of climate change. In recent decades retreat and thinning of these glaciers has accelerated and many are predicted to have disappeared by the end of the 21st...

Two glacier-themed PhD projects available at the University of Portsmouth as part of @treesdla.bsky.social:

www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/mou... with Clare Boston and me, plus...

06.12.2024 16:00 — 👍 5    🔁 6    💬 1    📌 0

Was in the same situation several years ago. Solution was a three-day hike from Lukla to Bhandar (27.572, 86.352) then a 13-hour jeep ride back to Kathmandu! Tough going, but the landscapes were incredible! Good luck!

21.11.2024 13:37 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0