A Dead Glacier Is a Loss. A Dying One Is a Threat.

Melting ice from the Himalayas is creating thousands of unstable lakes, a growing menace to towns and cities below.

All across the fast-warming Himalayas, melting glaciers are creating thousands of high-altitude lakes — and, in effect, thousands of new opportunities for avalanches and earthquakes to cause destruction. When falling rocks or snow land on a frozen glacier, nothing much happens. But as the ice melts and forms a lake, those same falling objects can set off a flood that menaces villages, tourist lodges, hydropower plants and anything else in its path.

https://archive.ph/wxhuo