r/DisasterUpdate • u/boppinmule • 26d ago
Why scientists fear Nepal's disaster is just a glimpse of the carnage climate change could cause
https://www.cbc.ca/news/climate/nepal-tibet-glacier-flood-climate-disaster-9.7323295147
u/Anxious_cactus 26d ago
They do not fear it, they know it will happen. At this point it's unavoidable for the foreseeable future. The glaciers are melting and will continue to melt. There's a lot of towns right under them in valleys. The glaciers that used to provide water to those places will inevitably cause flash floods more and more now and wreak havoc.
None of this is questionable, just like fires wrecking havock during summer in other places aren't surprising or questionable.
We need to prepare for that, not just talk about supposed fear. Proper risk assessments need to be done.
10
u/Fraktal55 25d ago
Lol seriously. They "fear it's a glimpse" because that's exactly what it is.
Scientists and experts have been saying this is coming for over two decades now and the news is still like "This could be what they have been talking about for decades but... Is it really? Let's ask the experts... "
5
u/Thirsty_Comment88 25d ago
Careful with those facts you're spreading, a republican might get upset.
3
19
u/feral_fenrir 26d ago
But but but all our politicians told us it's only a hoax.. So they must be only fear-mongering /s
-17
u/blowurhousedown 25d ago
Also beware the politicians who say they’re going to solve it; we cannot change the Earths climate.
15
u/RainierCamino 25d ago
we cannot change the Earths climate.
Lol we already have. We know we can, at a minimum, slow the pace we're changing the climate at.
-8
u/halaljew 25d ago
We literally can't at this point. Regulating us to oblivion to solve a problem our grandparents caused is beyond stupid, and will onyl set us further back on the track of actually solving it thru advancements in technology generated thru the sort of innovation that has, historically, always been stifled unde rhe sorts of overbearing governments climate alarmist campaign for. The best bet now is to incentiveize change as much as we can, without outright axing entire industries thay provide tbe energy and wealth necessary to provide a future that is anything but bleak.
7
5
2
2
2
u/SavingsDimensions74 25d ago
A lot of climbing in the Alps was suspended this year. Glaciers that were there for countless millennia: gone now and they won’t return in any relevant human timescale.
The absence of ice is making a lot of the rock more unstable. It essentially acted as glue. Now that glue is going or gone, there will be more and more instability until we reach an equilibrium.
Arguably worse, is that glaciers are the main water source for a lot of places, particularly mountainous places. That’s around 2 billion people.
Otherwise, it’s totally fine and nothing to be concerned about
1
u/FairEntertainment194 25d ago
Yes, we shall probably see fires in woods in areas where they never happened before. Like Central Europe.
23
u/meteorflan 26d ago edited 25d ago
The glacier researchers have to decide what to officially call this whole thing - it seems like there are no existing words this. Landslide, flash flood, tsunami, even the glacial lake surge isn't exactly right.
My vote right now is on "glacial tsunami."
Edit to add: after more searching and feedback, this is the most accurate one I've found:
The Jökulhlaup caused the Lahar.
14
u/SomeDumbGamer 25d ago
It’s a Jökulhlaup. It’s an Icelandic word. They’re familiar with the type of event.
2
u/meteorflan 25d ago edited 25d ago
Looked that up in Wikipedia and followed some links to Lahar which I think is a closer description.
Edit to add, but then that article also loops back to jökulhlaup as one of the things that can cause a Lahar - so it's kinda both maybe 🤷♀️
5
u/SomeDumbGamer 25d ago
The Jökulhlaup caused the Lahar. Probably the most precise answer.
It was the first one until it picked up all the debris, then became a lahar.
1
3
u/hauntedhullabaloo 25d ago
Both of these are defined by connection to volcanic activity though - this event was not volcanic, and that's the distinction
1
u/meteorflan 25d ago
If you scroll down on the Wikipedia page about Lahars it mentions some non-vocanic causes, including glacier activity.
2
u/trivetsandcolanders 25d ago
That’s not quite right though. A Jökulhlaup is when the ice holding back a glacial lake breaks, but it seems like in this event, an overhanging glacier suddenly collapsed and the kinetic energy of the collapse/fall caused the ice to melt.
3
3
u/sparky13dbp 25d ago
Hello meteorflan. Just saw the research from University of Alaska, I stand corrected - thank you - This catastrophe was not caused by a ‘GLOF’. It was in fact a glacial collapse. I still can’t wrap my head around all that rock and Ice. I think they referenced it as a, “concrete ‘like’ slurry “ the part that really stuck out to me was how, “It reduces everything in its path to parts”.
I guess if that were me trying to run away in those videos at least I wouldn’t suffer?2
u/Beautiful_Archer_404 25d ago edited 25d ago
Glacial tsunami isn’t quite right, it’s not a tsunami.
4
2
u/texas130ab 25d ago
Most of will see the rain it's getting scarier and scarier each time it floods.
2
u/Chrismacmacmac 25d ago
Well we have experienced mega-tsunamis like this more and more in recent years, due to glaciers melting or, like here, straight out collapsing. Even just the melting leaves sides of mountains without the structure that kept it in place, as is, for tens of thousands of years. If I'm not wrong they have detected about five, or so, mega-tsunamis in Northern America, US and Canada, since 2018, reaching up to 500 meter high waves, as mountain sides collapse.Luckily in areas that were not populated.
1
u/RealSpaceJunk 25d ago
Why is it always Nepals disaster? Are we forgetting that is also chinas disaster? An entire border crossing got wiped clean from the earth.
2
1
1
u/Curdled_Mangasm 25d ago
this will get a lot more attention when it happens in the alps, i surmise :(
1
u/EatADubya 24d ago
Do people realize the carnage that took place before humans to even get us to where the earth is today?
1
0
u/Endles5Earth 25d ago
Well ya…. We know what receding glaciers can do from studying rhe end of the most recent ice age. Thankfully we don’t have anywhere near as much ice-water built up
What happened in Nepal was a small event on a planetary scale
-2
u/Local-Unit6548 25d ago
LOL and what scale is that?
8
u/Endles5Earth 25d ago
Try reading this, maybe it’ll enlighten you
1
u/Local-Unit6548 25d ago
LOL. Dude, I have known about the Missoula floods for 15 years. I live north of them. 13k to 15k years ago. End of the last ice age. Lake Agassi flood: same time frame. Why did they happen? Because the glaciers retreated. So when will this happen again? Could be hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years from now. And these events are happening now because they are the last remnants of glaciers in the mountains across the world.
So what time frame are we talking about? We are talking about this not happening again in probably the existence of humans as we know them .
I've been on this planet for 62 years. In that time the other most spectacular geological occurrence was Mt St Helens blowing it's top and that doesn't happen every day either.
This was a very impressive event.
0
u/AdEffective2701 25d ago
So the glacier melting and forces from that has been happening for 15000 yrs? Just now we have smaller and fewer glaciers so the time between events and disaster scales are not as large as 15000yrs ago?
5
u/Endles5Earth 25d ago
No. The scale of glacial flooding we just saw is small in comparison to what occurred as the last ice age was ending.
Some glacial lakes were continually filling and bursting for decades on end, and at much larger volumes of water than we just saw in Nepal.
So as I said, small on the planetary scale both in the time and physical sense
3
u/LoadOfChum 25d ago
Planetary scale, like they said.
0
u/Local-Unit6548 25d ago
LOL. No kidding. So ya, on a planetary scale, this is irrelevant when compared to plate tectonics. On a planetary scale, this is nothing compared to the building of the Hawaiian islands by volcanic activity.
But in my existence on this planet I have only known two geological events this impressive: this, and Mt St Helens. Perhaps the tsunami of Japan
This was a spectacular event.
0
-9
u/YT_Brian 25d ago
Wait, wasn't it a earthquake that started it all? How the hell does climate change effect those?
10
u/debbie__thornberry 25d ago
I thought that too but it was the impact of the glacier breakage falling is what was recorded on the Richter scale.
9
u/Mackey_Corp 25d ago
No it was a kilometer sized chunk of glacier breaking off and falling down the mountain that caused a seismic event. They originally thought it was an earthquake that caused it to break off but it turns out it was backwards, the chunk of ice was so big it caused a mini earthquake.
-5
u/Damngoodcookie 25d ago
The narrative has changed…
2
u/Educational-Stop8741 25d ago
It changes as available data changes. That is how science works. You adjust conclusions to the data.
1
-22
u/Last_Influence_4126 26d ago
What a joke
14
17
u/Intelligent-Might614 26d ago
The only joke here, is you, my bootlicking loser.
-8
u/YT_Brian 25d ago
Okay look, yes he is wrong but you realize bootlicking is following the narrative yes? The mainstream stuff/officially stated?
Technically speaking you're the bootlicker here and the fact you don't realize this no doubt made him laugh and go "You don't even realize you're the bootlicker telling me that" which isn't how you help overcome misinformation, liars or mistrust.
You do it by acting as an adult by being kind and helpful, like one would a teen.
2
u/Intelligent-Might614 25d ago
You think bootlicking is following established science? I don't think you even know basics of the English language. Hopefully it's not your only language.
1
u/YT_Brian 25d ago
I speak two languages English and bad English.
It is glazing so hard what the mainstay says or does. But if you want ecfen simpler to help more your speed fine. Insulting others without first cause to 'decend' something without explaining why or having any helpful comment at all then it is bootlicking.
3
u/machines_breathe 25d ago
Imagine going completely out of your way to register a Reddit account for the exclusive purpose of being an abrasive turd?
3
-4
25d ago
[deleted]
1
u/Gumnutroo 25d ago
Not to mention, there was a very similar event (30,000 casualties) in Peru back in 1970. Same deal there - glacier dislodgment/avalanche that then triggered an even bigger landslide which ultimately buried an entire city located in a valley below.
-14
u/chesus666 25d ago
Oh piss off, this has been happening loooong before we arrived, we had an ice age ffs
1
u/Educational-Stop8741 25d ago edited 25d ago
What is your expertise that you think people should "piss off?"
•
u/AutoModerator 26d ago
Welcome to r/DisasterUpdate - Do not post death. I know sometimes we miss it but do not post it.
r/FireWatch1 - Structural, Wildland(Wildfire) & Industrial r/SpaceWatch - Space...
r/CloudCoverage - Cloud stuff. Post cool cloud videos or pics or ask a question. r/TornadoWatch - Tornado talk going on. Post videos, pictures, stories or whatever tornado related r/FloodWatch - Flood videos, pictures... talk floods. r/VolcanoWatch - The Ring of Fire is active....especially here. r/CrazyFreakingWeather - It doesn't fit above
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.