专家警告：气候危机或正使尼泊尔等山区地质失稳

周三，尼泊尔与西藏边境地区发生严重山洪，席卷了当地社区 1。这场沿博特科西河发生的山洪已造成至少360人死亡，另有1400人失踪 1。在洪水期间，特里苏里河水位暴涨，河道变宽并充满沉积物 2。

卫星图像显示，喜马拉雅山脉高处冰川崩塌是引发此次山洪的主要原因 1。卡尔加里大学副教授丹·舒格与法国格勒诺布尔阿尔卑斯大学的克里斯滕·库克通过分析卫星图像发现，朗当利鲁峰冰川下方的基岩坍塌引发了大规模冰岩碎屑流 2。科罗拉多大学博尔德分校山地地理学家奥尔顿·拜尔斯称这是他见过的最大冰川洪水，并认为该事件与气候变暖导致的永久冻土融化有关 2。专家警告气候危机正在使尼泊尔等山区地质失稳，指出今年异常高温可能融化了固定冰川的冰层 1。研究人员指出，此次事件可能与气候变暖导致的冰川和永久冻土融化有关，但库克和舒格强调，目前尚无法直接将该基岩坍塌与气候变化建立因果联系 2。

A catastrophic flood swept through border communities between Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday, leaving at least 360 people dead and 1,400 missing 1. Satellite imagery reveals that the disaster was primarily triggered by the collapse of a high-altitude glacier in the Himalayas 1. Specifically, researchers Kristen Cook from the University Grenoble Alpes in France and Dan Shugar, an associate professor at the University of Calgary, identified a bedrock collapse beneath the Langtang Lirung glacier that unleashed a massive ice and rock debris flow 2. The resulting torrent of mud, water, and ice surged along the Bhote Koshi River 1. Additionally, the Trishuli River experienced a massive surge in water levels during the flood, widening its channel and filling it with sediment 2.

Alton Byers, a mountain geographer at the University of Colorado Boulder, described the event as the largest glacial flood he has ever witnessed 2. Experts warn that the climate crisis could be destabilizing mountainous regions like Nepal 1. Byers suggests the disaster is linked to the melting of permafrost driven by global warming 2. Furthermore, unusually high temperatures this year may have melted the ice layers anchoring the glaciers 1. However, Cook and Shugar caution that a direct causal link between this specific bedrock collapse and climate change cannot yet be established 2.