Climate change is here and our planet’s glaciers are highlighting just how bad things have gotten and how quickly it’s all speeding up. Experts say that glacial melt is happening faster than ever and the fallout of that ice loss will likely be catastrophic.
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00:00Climate change is here, and our planet's glaciers are highlighting just how bad things have
00:07gotten and how quickly it's all speeding up.
00:10Experts say that Europe's Alps and Pyrenees lost 40% of glacial volume from 2000 to 2023.
00:16These glaciers have a seasonal melt and freeze cycle that some 2 billion people on the continent
00:20rely on for fresh water, meaning that when they're gone, those regions will have difficulties
00:24with agriculture, power production, and potentially have water shortages and face increased risk
00:29of natural disasters.
00:31One of those disasters could even be the result of newly formed lakes from melted glaciers.
00:35These lakes fill in depressions left by the ice mass's absence, however, they will be
00:39held at high elevation by fragile melting ice dams, which could eventually fail and
00:43flood populated areas.
00:45This sort of glacial lake outbursting has already happened in the Himalayas in 2023,
00:50killing 50 people and causing massive amounts of damage to infrastructure.
00:53The increased temperatures will also begin to thaw permafrost, which can destabilize
00:57mountain rock and lead to landslides and rockfalls.
01:00These can then trigger a domino effect, causing waves in glacial lakes and instigating flood
01:05scenarios.
01:06And because 10% of Earth's surface is covered in ice, with some 110,000 glacial lakes currently,
01:11experts are racing to figure out how to mitigate the effects of a warming planet.