Glacial Lakes Aerial Monitoring Mission, Tajikistan

Background

Focus Humanitarian Assistance (FOCUS) is an international emergency response and disaster management agency that provides relief and support services during and following natural and man-made disasters, primarily in the developing world. FOCUS aims to provide disaster mitigation and preparedness programme in vulnerable communities. It also extends humanitarian relief and recovery following natural or man disasters and reduce the communities’ dependence on humanitarian aid and facilitate their transition to sustainable self-reliance. Founded in 1994, FOCUS has offices in Afghanistan, Canada, Europe India, Pakistan, USA and has been providing humanitarian assistance, and responding to natural disasters in Tajikistan since 1998. FOCUS is an affiliate of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN).

FOCUS in Tajikistan is currently implementing the project of “Creating Opportunities in a Safe Environment” (COSE) jointly with Mountain Societies Development Support Program (MSDSP) of the Aga Khan Foundation, funded by the Government of Switzerland, which addresses the need for development and expansion of safe living environment by integrating disaster risk reduction (DRR) into urban and rural development planning. This is a complementary to the Remote Geo-Hazards project, where the assessment of risk from the remote (Glacial Lake Outburst Flood) and local hazards for the communities directly under threat was carried out. This project will integrate those findings and estimates the risk for the community further downstream along the two main valleys - Gund and Shohdara up to Khorog town, the administrative center of Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO). As part of this project, FOCUS plans to carry out the aerial monitoring of glacial lakes and glaciers/rock glaciers, main tributaries and valleys in hazard prone areas in GBAO, namely in Ishkashim, Shugnan, Roshqala, Rushan and Vanj districts, thereby providing recommendations for early warning and forecast future events. This mission is carried out in tight collaboration with the government institutions such as Main department of geology, State Agency of Hydrometerology and the Committee of Emergency Situation and Civil Defense.

Position and objectives

FOCUS is currently looking for a qualified expert with a strong experience in geology, glaciology and geomorphology to assist in the glaciers and glacial lakes aerial monitoring mission conducted in GBAO, Tajikistan. The main objective of the planned mission is to review and document the general conditions of glacial lakes, glaciers, rock glaciers, changes in lake and dam structures, discharge of lateral inflows and main tributaries, as well as the probability of potential hazards occurrence in near future posed by mentioned threats. The mission will be conducted in last week of October, 2015.

Tasks

• Assist in the categorization and prioritization of potentially hazardous sites with glacial lakes, glaciers, rock glacier, landslide and etc that require aerial monitoring, including specific aspects that should be monitored
• Facilitate in the development of fly routes, waypoints and number of rotations required for each site
• Provide oversight in the development of monitoring plan and based on the results of the monitoring mission provide recommendations for future missions.
• Participate in the aerial monitoring and conduct visual check of conditions of the lakes, natural dams, existence of implications/probabilities of threat for lake outbursts, observe the signs of glaciers pulsation / recession, intensity of glacier melting, level of discharge of lateral inflows and main tributaries and other triggering elements
• Document and analyze the findings from the mission and recommend future course of action
• Assist in creating a baseline database of the glacial lake and glaciers conditions

Deliverables

• Prepare narrative report for each monitored site along with the recommendation for future actions
• Prepare an overall report on mission’s findings together with FOCUS geologists and Government specialists and provide recommendations for future aerial monitoring missions, based on the learning of this mission

Qualifications

• Degree preferably in Geology, Geomorphology, Glaciology
• Familiarity with hydrology, glaciers and glacial lakes, monitoring and assessment of water basins/glacial lakes, structure of dams
• Experience with GIS and Remote Sensing; analyses of satellite images to reveal the changes in lakes conditions, degradations and melting of glaciers.
• Minimum seven years of experience in the field of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
• Experience in aerial monitoring and familiarity with the region (preferably)
• Fluent in Russian and English (Tajik language is a plus)