Remote China glacial lake bursts, no casualties

A glacial lake in China's far western region of Xinjiang has burst though there were no casualties, state media said, while the environment group Greenpeace warned on Wednesday that such events have increased because of rising temperatures.

The glacial lake burst last Friday releasing floodwater into the remote Yarkant River Basin, state media reported.

"As temperatures climb, glacial outbursts, flooding, and seasonal water shortages will only become more severe," Greenpeace East Asia climate and energy campaigner Liu Junyan said in a statement.

The group cited research from the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources at the Chinese Academy of Science as saying the frequency of glacial outbursts in the Yarkant River Basin has gone up since the 1980s because of a rise in average annual temperatures and precipitation.

"Climate change has caused the acceleration of glacier mass loss and an increase in glacial runoff in arid regions of northwest China and has lead to more frequent glacial floods and debris flows," Greenpeace quote Shen Yongping, a research fellow at the institute, as saying.

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