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Despite several regional glacier and glacier lake inventories, the relationship between receding glacier, glacial lake evolution (glacial-lake interactions) and their sensitivity to different forcing factors have not been properly understood yet. To better understand these processes, we used satellite images collected in 1994, 2015 and 2017 to monitor the spatially-explicit evolution of glacial lakes and glacier changes. The results show a total of 1 353 glacial lakes covering an area of 7.96 km2 in the year 2015. Out of these, a total of 137 glacial lakes having an area of >0.01 km2 and located within 2 km periphery of mother glacier have been selected for the monitoring of spatial development between 1994 and 2017. We found an increase in the total lake area from ∼4.9 to ∼7.73 km2 between 1994 and 2017, corresponding to an overall expansion of ∼57%. The total area covered by the glaciers associated with these lakes reduced from ∼365 km2 in 1994 to ∼358 km2 in 2017, accounting for a glacier loss of ∼7 km2 and corresponding to ∼1.92% reduction. Our study results are in agreement with global glacier behavior, revealing a rapid glacier recession and accelerated glacial lake expansion under an unprecedented climate change scenario. In addition, the results suggest a significant reduction in the glacier area and a close relationship between the glacier melting and lake changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we review the current knowledge of the glacial recession and related glacial lake development in the Andes of South America. Since the mid-1980s, hundreds of glacial lakes either expanded or formed, and predictions show that additional hundreds of lakes will form throughout the 21st century. However, studies on glacial lakes in the Andes are still relatively rare. Many glacial lakes pose a potential hazard to local communities, but glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) are understudied. We provide an overview on hazards from glacial lakes such as GLOFs and water pollution, and their monitoring approaches. In real-time monitoring, the use of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) and early warning systems (EWSs) is still extremely rare in the Andes, but increasingly authorities plan to install mitigation systems to reduce glacial lake risk and protect local communities. In support, we propose an international remote sensing-based observation initiative following the model of, for example, the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) one, with the headquarters in one of the Andean nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]