This document outlines the core elements of the workflow used in Work Package 3
of the project Future Glacial Lakes in High Mountain Asia – Modeling and Risk Analysis (GLAMoR).
It supports the results presented in:
Furian and Sauter (2025)
Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (NHESS) [citation pending]
This is not a fully executable, step-by-step script.
Instead, it provides a structured overview with code snippets, commands, and explanatory notes for key steps involved in:
- Preparing digital elevation data
- Delineating glacial lakes
- Generating 3D meshes
- Defining breach scenarios
- Setting up and running hydrodynamic simulations in OpenFOAM
To apply this workflow, the following input data are required:
- A digital elevation model (DEM) with sufficient resolution (e.g., ALOS PALSAR at 12.5 m)
- Vector outlines of the glacial lakes (e.g., shapefiles) serving as GLOF origins
- lake bathymetry data (or ice-thickness data for calculating the lake volume)
The following software stack has been tested and is recommended for running the workflow:
| Software | Version | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| OpenFOAM | 2112 | 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation |
| ParaView | 5.11.0 | Visualization and postprocessing |
| Python | 3.8 | Preprocessing and postprocessing scripts |
| C++ | 11 | Required for OpenFOAM solvers |
💡 The code is written in both Python and C++.
While small test cases may be run locally, access to a high-performance computing (HPC) cluster is highly recommended for full-scale simulations. When using a Windows setup, the following tools are helpful:
- PuTTY – for secure SSH terminal access to the remote server
- WinSCP – for file transfer between the local machine and the server
Make sure that OpenFOAM is correctly installed and configured on the HPC system.
Code and materials are hosted at:
👉 https://github.com/cryotools/GLOF-simulations
For background on the overall GLAMoR project, see:
🌐 https://hu-berlin.de/glamor
This code is free to use and adapt for non-commercial purposes.
If you use this workflow, please cite the original work, e.g., for version 1.0:
Furian, W. and Sauter, T. (2025): cryotools/GLOF-modeling: 3D CFD GLOF modeling using OpenFOAM, version: v1.0.
You are welcome to contribute:
- Fork the repository
- Commit your modifications
- Submit a pull request
For questions or collaboration inquiries, please contact:
W. Furian, ORCID: 0000-0001-7834-2500