Southeast Tibet is characterized by extensive alpine glaciers and deep valleys, making it highly prone to cryospheric disasters such as avalanches, ice/ice-rock avalanches, glacial lake outburst floods, debris flows, and barrier lakes, which pose severe threats to infrastructure and human safety. Understanding how cryospheric disasters respond to climate warming remains a critical challenge. Using 3.3 km resolution meteorological downscaling data, this study analyzes the spatiotemporal evolution of multiple climate indicators from 1979 to 2022 and assesses their impacts on cryospheric disaster occurrence. The results reveal a significant warming trend across Southeast Tibet, with faster warming in glacier-covered regions. Precipitation generally decreases, though the semi-arid northwest experiences localized increases. Snowfall declines, with the steepest decrease observed around the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River. In the moisture corridor of the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, warming intensifies freeze-thaw cycles, combined with high baseline extreme daily precipitation, which increases the likelihood of glacial disaster chains. In northwestern Southeast Tibet, accelerated glacier melting due to warming, coupled with increasing extreme precipitation, heightens glacial disaster probabilities. While long-term snowfall decline may reduce avalanches, high baseline extreme snowfall suggests short-term threats remain. Finally, this study establishes meteorological indicators for predicting changes in cryospheric disaster risks under climate change.

Under the heavy rainfall risk due to global warming, a new trend has emerged in geological disasters of loess, which have often evolved into a chain form of disaster chain of loess (DCL) in recent years. The DCL is characterized by multiple, hidden, catastrophic, and complex characteristics that seriously affect the construction and operation of large-scale infrastructure on the Loess Plateau. To understand the formation mechanism of a disaster chain of loess, we took the Shiyangpo DCL, a typical disaster chain occurring recently on the Loess Plateau, as an example to investigate the geomorphic features and deformation characteristics of DCL using new technologies and methods such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) mapping and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) spatial analysis technology. A series of special laboratory tests considering the vibration of the loess subgrade was conducted to explore the changes in physical and mechanical properties of loess samples in the study area under natural, saturated, and vibration conditions. Additionally, the trigger factors and evolution process of this DCL were analyzed, and the formation mechanism of recently emerging typical DCL was revealed as well. The triggering factors of the disaster were summarized as follows: loess nature, heavy rainfall, irrigation, irrational excavation, incomplete drainage channels, and long-term vehicle vibration of roadbeds. Furthermore, extreme rainfall was identified as the primary inducing factor of Shiyangpo DCL. Finally, the development and evolution of Shiyangpo DCL were divided into five stages: the formation of the loess sinkhole stage, the occurrence of the loess subsidence stage, the occurrence of the loess collapse stage, the occurrence of the loess landslide stage, and the formation of river -blocking and dammed lake stage. This study reveals the cause and evolution process of the newly emerged DCL in the Loess Plateau, and the new techniques and methods involved can provide references for the theoretical research and prevention of loess geological disasters in other places.

The Karakoram mountain range is prone to natural disasters such as glacial surging and glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) events. In this study, we aimed to document and reconstruct the sequence of events caused by glacial debris flows that dammed the Immit River in the Hindu Kush Karakoram Range on 17 July 2018. We used satellite remote sensing and field data to conduct the analyses. The order of the events in the disaster chain were determined as follows: glacial meltwater from the G2 glacier (ID: G074052E36491N) transported ice and debris that dammed the meltwater at the snout of the G1 glacier (ID: G074103E36480N), then the debris flow dammed the Immit River and caused Lake Badswat to expand. We surveyed the extent of these events using remote sensing imagery. We analyzed the glaciers' responses to this event chain and found that the glacial debris flow induced G1 to exhibit accelerating ice flow in parts of the region from 25 July 2018 to 4 August 2018. According to the records from reanalysis data and data from the automatic weather station located 75 km from Lake Badswat, the occurrence of this disaster chain was related to high temperatures recorded after 15 July 2018. The chains of events caused by glacially related disasters makes such hazards more complex and dangerous. Therefore, this study is useful not only for understanding the formation of glacial disaster chains, but also for framing mitigation plans to reduce the risks for vulnerable downstream/upstream residents.