The recent catastrophic landslide and ensuing flood in Nepal have sparked a global conversation about the impact of human-driven climate change on glaciers. While the precise cause remains uncertain, the event has raised questions about the relationship between climate change and glacial stability.
On August 26, a massive landslide struck approximately 12 miles northeast of the Rasuwagadhi border post along the Nepal-China border, as reported by Nepal Disaster Management. This landslide led to a significant portion of a glacier collapsing on the mountainside, explained Göran Ekström from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University in a statement to ABC News.
The role of climate change in this disaster is yet to be fully understood. Richard Alley, a glaciologist from The Pennsylvania State University, mentioned that determining this would require an examination of whether water saturation in the mountain’s bedrock, potentially due to glacial or permafrost melt, caused the landslide.
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The devastating flood has resulted in over 1,000 fatalities and left more than 4,000 people missing, underscoring the necessity of monitoring and studying glaciers worldwide as climate change continues to impact these ice masses.
Anders Anker Bjørk, a geography associate professor at the University of Copenhagen, noted that landslides are becoming more common globally in regions with glaciers. He explained, “This frost is melting, making the mountains more unstable,” adding that retreating glaciers expose new, potentially unstable mountainsides.
Brenda Hall, a glaciologist at the University of Maine, emphasized that while glacier collapses can occur anywhere, they pose a significant threat in high-relief areas prone to earthquakes and weak bedrock. Although a direct link to climate change is still undetermined, Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at the University of California Berkeley, noted the rapid warming of the mountain over decades.
Hausfather stated, “A rapidly warming climate and retreating glaciers are increasing risks of these sorts of events in the region, whether or not we can ultimately attribute this particular event.”
Glacial lake outbursts, different from the Nepal-China border incident, involve large lakes formed by glacial meltwater and can cause severe flooding. Brenda Hall highlighted the increasing instability of melting glaciers, raising concerns about future hazards.
A Nature Communications study estimates that around 15 million people globally might face potential flooding from glacial lake outbursts, with significant populations at risk in India, Pakistan, Peru, and China.
Experts suggest that even minor climate changes can lead to more frequent extreme events, such as intense floods or rising sea levels. The seasonal melting of glaciers might have contributed to the landslide in Nepal if glacial or permafrost melt was the primary trigger.
Mohan Bahadur Chand from Kathmandu University observed that the mountain cliff responsible for the landslide had changed significantly over recent decades due to glacial melting. He remarked, “Once it’s hanging, it’s difficult to stabilize like that at the top of the cliffs at very high slopes.”
Future risks are not confined to South Asia; experts point to the Andes Mountains in South America as another region vulnerable to similar events. Last year, a comparable incident in Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska, resulted in a massive tsunami due to glacial retreat altering the landscape. While no casualties were reported from that event, the risk of smaller yet significant disasters looms larger as climate change continues to impact glacial regions.
Original Story at www.yahoo.com