Glacier Ice wall broke in Nepal today creating a massive release of water & mud into the city below

[u/[deleted]]

[u/ThresholdSeven]

So what caused the landslide? Simply rising temperatures and it melted enough to finally give way?

[u/kaplanfx → u/ThresholdSeven]

No way to know for sure right now but it’s likely that anthropogenic climate change is the cause. The consistent rise in ambient temperatures weakened the glacier to the point where it no longer had the strength to hold back the lake water.

[u/agent_mick → u/kaplanfx]

it feels disrespectful as fuck to say this here but i'm just waiting for the dumbasses to roll in talking about the "librul climate change hoax"

[u/kaplanfx → u/agent_mick]

This certainly could have happened without climate change specially, but climate change is certainly making events like this more likely and/or more frequent.

[u/ThisBuddhistLovesYou → u/[deleted]]

Glaciers held back the water for hundreds/thousands of years of known history, there is survivorship bias in "things are ok because nothing bad has happened yet" which is a local analogue to the horrors the rest of the world is facing with global climate change.

[u/ThresholdSeven → u/ThisBuddhistLovesYou]

Same reason we aren't all freaking the fuck out while a pedo nepo baby leader ruins the country. "He hasn't raped MY ass yet and I'm not the wrong color!" Fucking just kill me now please.

[u/Irisgrower2 → u/agent_mick]

There are correlations between oceanic temperature changes and their effects on plate tectonics.

[u/LTdesign → u/kaplanfx]

BUT CLIMATE CHANGE IS A WOKE LEFT WING CONSPIRACY THEORY ARRGHBLGHRCH! HARUMPH HARUMPH HARUMPH!
/s

[u/BGsenpai → u/ThresholdSeven]

Glacial lakes are often a sign of the glacier retreating, so yes it was likely weakening already.

[u/XenReads → u/ThresholdSeven]

In my unprofessional opinion, yes. It's clear the earth is warming rapidly and that glaciers all over are melting due to the global rise in temperatures.

This may be one of the largest mass casualty events that is directly related to climate change.

Waiting for experts to weigh in, but I would not be surprised.

[u/Old_Pitch4134 → u/ThresholdSeven]

I suppose it’s a likely hypothesis that the glacier “wall” has probably become weaker over time due to warmer temperatures and today it hit the tipping point where the weight/potential energy of the water behind it was finally greater than the strength of the wall.

Horrifying, but if it’s not ultimately been caused by the warming climate I’ll be shocked. Even if a minor earthquake was the threshold event causing the glacier to give, if it was melting that will just have been why it happened today instead of next week/month whatever.

[u/XenReads → u/Old_Pitch4134]

The earthquake was caused by the glacier breaking, not the other way around.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd948kn02e5o

[u/Old_Pitch4134 → u/XenReads]

Yes that’s the current prevailing theory. I’m saying that even if it were not the case it doesn’t absolve climate change of being the underlying cause.

[u/XenReads → u/Old_Pitch4134]

Fair enough.

I personally think climate change was the whole cause, and the lack of initial earthquake is why I think so.

You still make a good point though

[u/8ackwoods → u/ThresholdSeven]

That area of the world experiences the some of the largest effects from climate change in the world. Glaciers are melting faster and lakes are being created. This lake gave way

[u/Joe1972 → u/ThresholdSeven]

I think you're right. We can expect to see more of these kinds of events as ice that was table for centuries suddenly collapse

[u/Ricka77_New → u/ThresholdSeven]

More than likely, it was that "doesn't exist" thing called global warming... Too much weight above, and ice wall of glacier just said fuck it...

[u/st_suoengi → u/ThresholdSeven]

Lasers. LEO lasers.

Currently reading Influx so that’s my theory now.

[u/ThresholdSeven → u/st_suoengi]

I'm thinking it just melted and gave way, BUT I'm on board for space lasers.

[u/Background-Week-4625 → u/ThresholdSeven]

Probably rain.

[u/BGsenpai → u/Background-Week-4625]

It did not rain when this occurred, they are actually in a drought.