Glacier breaks in Peru, causing tsunami in Andes

Mon Apr 12, 2010 7:49pm EDTLIMA (Reuters) - A huge glacier broke off and plunged into a lake in Peru, causing a 75-foot (23-meter) tsunami wave that swept away at least three people and destroyed a water processing plant serving 60,000 local residents, government officials said on Monday.

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It was one of the most concrete signs yet that glaciers are disappearing in Peru, home to 70 percent of the world's tropical icefields. Scientists say warmer temperatures will cause them to melt away altogether within 20 years.


http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63B69Y20100412?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_term=environmental+news%2C+ecology&utm_content=from+Ecological+Internet+http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ecoearth.info%2F

I saw them within two years of interval, in 2005 and 2007, it was amazingly scary. How depressing. Thank you USA for Copenhagen.

The situation in Venezuelan glaciers: 13 years left, according to this article.

http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/04/17/ciencia/1208446306.html

Well, Chavez and Evo Morales were fighting hard in Copenhaguen to make sure there was no agreement. Venezuela could get hit very hard if they take the carbon emmissions seriously in the USA, because USA is the main market for Venezuela's oil, and the heavy oil in the Faja will require incredibly high emissions of CO2 to get it out of the ground and processed. It'll be similar to the problem in Canada, where their oil sands take a lot of energy to get them to market. This means Venezuelan diplomats will likely use subtle methods (or not so subtle) to stop progress towards an agreement. Evo Morales, on the other hand, was just being Evo, Hugo's sidekick. Bolivia doesn't have heavy oil, it has natural gas.

I wouldn't use the term "tsunami" for a glacier surge wave. A tsunami is an ocean wave caused by an earthquake or a submarine land slide. They do need to take into account a glacier collapse wave when they put up buildings near glacier walls.

Here's the biggest ever known in modern times : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lituya_Bay

Anything that falls in water and displaces it is causes a tsunami and it don't need to be underground. The one which would cause everyone to duck would be if the volcnao in the Canaries split and slid into the Atlantic - would wipe the entire eastern seaboard of the USA about 6 hours later.

Is there a big threat to the U.K., as well, or will the main force go westwardly? As I understood it, the possibility isn't really all that remote, either. (Hope the Canary Islanders have given this all a lot of thought.)

I heard years ago it was the actual crash of that big mass into the Atlatic which would start the fatal tsunami headed for the U.S.

Unbelievable how fast they travel.

Projected to also fan out north up the Atlantic and funnel up the Irish Sea and English Channel but from memory its effect would be softened. Would still cause major flooding east coast of Ireland, Welsh coast and the entire coastal strip of the Channel maybe half way up affected counties not protected by the North Downs. Wouldn't do the north coast of France ,most of which I think is low land,
much good either

It's west into the Atlantic which would be uninterrupted. I think the travel rate is c. 400mph. Nowadays its constantly monitored as far as I'm aware.

:hi: