Scientists warn that glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) could deliver destruction worse than nuclear explosions. These floods are increasingly common due to climate change, threatening millions in the US. Historically, events like the Missoula Floods resulted from glacial lakes bursting. In recent years, tragedies in regions like India's Sikkim highlight GLOFs' dangers. The pressure builds in glacial lakes until they explode, unleashing powerful floods that reshape landscapes. Alaska, Washington, and Wyoming are currently facing increased risks from these catastrophic events.
At the end of the last Ice Age, roughly 15,000 years ago, the Missoula Floods swept across the American Northwest, triggered by massive glacial lakes bursting through ice dams.
With immense pressure building behind a ridge, the lake exploded, unleashing a wall of water up to 60ft that roared down a valley, obliterating everything in its path.
Each of the 400 individual floods during this event unleashed the energy of 4,500 megatons of TNT, nearly 100 times the force of the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated, Soviet Russia's 'Tsar Bomba.'
Now, attention is turning to the US, where three states - Alaska, Washington and Wyoming - are facing growing threats from glacial lake outburst floods.
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