As glaciers melt and pour massive amounts of water into nearby lakes, 15 million people across the globe live under the threat of a sudden and deadly outburst flood, a new study finds.
apnews.com
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More than half of those living in the shadow of the disaster called glacial lake outburst floods are in just four countries: India, Pakistan, Peru and China, according to a study in Tuesdayβs Nature Communications.
The trouble is that scientists are focusing too much attention on the Pakistan, India, China and the Himalayas, often called High Mountain Asia, and somewhat ignoring the Andes, said study co-author Tom Robinson at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.
Three lake basins in the United States and Canada rank high for threats, from the Pacific Northwest to Alaska, but arenβt nearly as high as areas in Asia and the Andes with few people in the danger zone.
India ranks high in the threat list not so much because of the physical setup but because of βa huge number of people downstream.β
Melting glaciers are one of the clearest, most visible signs of the climate crisis.
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