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Glacial lakes tin origin flooding if an crystal oregon stone dam holding backmost the h2o fails, putting an estimated 15 cardinal radical astatine risk, an investigation has found
Environment 7 February 2023Flooding of glacial lakes, similar Nepal’s Imja glacial water pictured here, could enactment millions astatine risk Prakash Mathema/AFP via Getty Images
As galore arsenic 15 cardinal radical unrecorded successful areas that could beryllium flooded by a earthy dam failing astatine a glacial lake, according to the archetypal planetary investigation of the hazard.
Tom Robinson astatine the University of Canterbury successful New Zealand and his colleagues identified glacial lakes successful outer imagery. They past determined the fig of radical surviving wrong 50 kilometres of each lake, and wrong 1 kilometre of the stream wherever h2o would travel successful the lawsuit of a glacial water outburst flood (GLOF). These floods tin hap erstwhile an crystal oregon stone dam holding backmost a glacial water fails, oregon a stone descent sends h2o sloshing implicit a earthy dam.
The researchers recovered up to 15 cardinal radical could beryllium affected, with 9 cardinal successful the Himalayas, 2.5 cardinal successful the Andes and 2.2 cardinal successful the Alps. More than fractional of the 15 cardinal unrecorded successful either India, Pakistan, Peru oregon China.
Outburst floods are improbable astatine galore glacial lakes, and the survey presents a simplified presumption of the areas immoderate flooding would affect, says Simon Allen astatine the University of Zurich successful Switzerland, but helium says the planetary presumption helps gully attraction to susceptible and understudied regions.
Pakistan, for instance, has 2.1 cardinal radical surviving successful perchance at-risk areas, but lakes determination are little good understood than lakes successful adjacent Nepal, wherever the authorities has built costly spillways astatine the astir unsafe lakes and installed early informing systems. In immoderate cases, a flood question from an outburst could get successful nether an hour, with nary anterior warning.
Lakes successful Peru and elsewhere successful the Andes mountains, wherever thousands of radical person been killed by glacial water floods since the 1950s, besides haven’t received capable attention, says Robinson.
Glacial lakes are increasing rapidly successful fig and size arsenic climate alteration melts much ice, but the frequence of glacial floods has decreased since the 1970s, says Stephan Harrison astatine the University of Exeter successful the UK. As with warming aft the 19th-century Little Ice Age, determination whitethorn beryllium decades of lag betwixt warming and lakes increasing ample capable for an outburst, helium says.
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