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.
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