Recent giant detachment of a glacier on the Tibetan plateau provoked by its frozen tongue

Abstract Sudden detachments of entire glacier tongues are rare but potentially devastating events that remain poorly understood. Here, we report on an event that occurred in Tibet on November 1, 2022, with an ice volume of ~40 million cubic meters, ranking it among the largest recorded ice avalanches. Utilizing a broad array of satellite data and seismic signals, we reconstruct the motion of the source glacier leading to its failure and the large landscape changes caused by the avalanche. The lack of glacier advance during its acceleration phase suggests that a frozen terminus has played a key role in the evolution of the glacier failure by acting as a dam to the ice mass pushing from above and its potential water content. The dense coverage by satellite data reveals details of an exponential increase in glacier speeds, up to 46 m per day in the weeks and days prior to failure.