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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Swiss glacier collapse renews focus on risks of climate change as glaciers retreat around the world
The landslide that buried most of a Swiss village this week is focusing renewed attention on the role of global warming in glacier collapses around the world and the increasing dangers. How glaciers collapse — from the Alps and Andes to the Himalayas and Antarctica — can differ, scientists say. But in almost every instance, climate change is playing a role. In Switzerland, the mountainside gave way Wednesday near the village of Blatten, in the southern Lötschental valley, because the rock face above the Birch Glacier had become unstable when mountain permafrost melted, causing debris to fall and cover the glacier in recent years, said Martin Truffer, a physics professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks who studies how glaciers move. While the debris insulated the glacier and slowed melting, its weight caused the ice to begin moving — which accelerated dramatically a few weeks ago. Authorities ordered the evacuation of about 300 people, as well as all livestock, from the village in recent days, 'when it became clear that there's a whole mountainside that's about to collapse,' said Truffer, who is from Switzerland. Glacial lakes pose threat Lakes that form at the base of glaciers as they melt and retreat also sometimes burst, often with catastrophic results. Water can even lift an entire glacier, allowing it to drain, said Truffer, adding that Alaska's capital of Juneau has flooded in recent years because a lake forms every year on a rapidly retreating glacier and eventually bursts. In 2022, an apartment building-sized chunk of the Marmolada glacier in Italy's Dolomite mountains detached during a summer heat wave, sending an avalanche of debris down the popular summer hiking destination, killing 11. A glacier in Tibet's Aru mountain range suddenly collapsed in 2016, killing nine people and their livestock, followed a few months later by the collapse of another glacier. There also have been collapses in Peru, including one in 2006 that caused a mini tsunami; most recently, a glacial lagoon overflowed in April, triggering a landslide that killed two. 'It's amazing sometimes how rapidly they can collapse,' said Lonnie Thompson, a glacier expert at the Ohio State University. 'The instability of these glaciers is a real and growing problem, and there are thousands and thousands of people that are at risk.' Scientists say melting glaciers will raise sea levels for decades, but the loss of inland glaciers also acutely affects those living nearby who rely on them for water for drinking water and agriculture. No way to stop the melting Scientists say greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal have already locked in enough global warming to doom many of the world's glaciers — which already have retreated significantly. For example, glaciers in the Alps have lost 50% of their area since 1950, and the rate at which ice is being lost has been accelerating, with 'projections ... that all the glaciers in the Alps could be gone in this century,' Thompson said. Switzerland, which has the most glaciers of any country in Europe, saw 4% of its total glacier volume disappear in 2023, the second-biggest decline in a single year after a 6% drop in 2022. A 2023 study found that Peru has lost more than half of its glacier surface in the last six decades, and 175 glaciers disappeared due to climate change between 2016 and 2020, mostly due to the increase in the average global temperature. A study published Thursday in Science said that even if global temperatures stabilized at their current level, 40% of the world's glaciers still would be lost. But if warming were limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit ) — the long-term warming limit since the late 1800s called for by the 2015 Paris climate agreement — twice as much glacier ice could be preserved than would be otherwise. Even so, many areas will become ice-free no matter what, Truffer, the University of Alaska expert. 'There's places in Alaska where we've shown that it doesn't take any more global warming,' for them to disappear, Truffer said. 'The reason some ... (still) exist is simply because it takes a certain amount of time for them to melt. But the climate is already such that they're screwed.' ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at Tammy Webber, The Associated Press
Nahar Net
3 days ago
- Science
- Nahar Net
Swiss glacier collapse renews focus on climate change risks
by Naharnet Newsdesk 30 May 2025, 16:37 The landslide that buried most of a Swiss village this week is focusing renewed attention on the role of global warming in glacier collapses around the world and the increasing dangers. How glaciers collapse — from the Alps and Andes to the Himalayas and Antarctica — can differ, scientists say. But in almost every instance, climate change is playing a role. In Switzerland, the mountainside gave way Wednesday near the village of Blatten, in the southern Lötschental valley, because the rock face above the Birch Glacier had become unstable when mountain permafrost melted, causing debris to fall and cover the glacier in recent years, said Martin Truffer, a physics professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks who studies how glaciers move. While the debris insulated the glacier and slowed melting, its weight caused the ice to begin moving — which accelerated dramatically a few weeks ago. Authorities ordered the evacuation of about 300 people, as well as all livestock, from the village in recent days, "when it became clear that there's a whole mountainside that's about to collapse," said Truffer, who is from Switzerland. Glacial lakes pose threat Lakes that form at the base of glaciers as they melt and retreat also sometimes burst, often with catastrophic results. Water can even lift an entire glacier, allowing it to drain, said Truffer, adding that Alaska's capital of Juneau has flooded in recent years because a lake forms every year on a rapidly retreating glacier and eventually bursts. In 2022, an apartment building-sized chunk of the Marmolada glacier in Italy's Dolomite mountains detached during a summer heat wave, sending an avalanche of debris down the popular summer hiking destination, killing 11. A glacier in Tibet's Aru mountain range suddenly collapsed in 2016, killing nine people and their livestock, followed a few months later by the collapse of another glacier. There also have been collapses in Peru, including one in 2006 that caused a mini tsunami; most recently, a glacial lagoon overflowed in April, triggering a landslide that killed two. "It's amazing sometimes how rapidly they can collapse," said Lonnie Thompson, a glacier expert at the Ohio State University. "The instability of these glaciers is a real and growing problem, and there are thousands and thousands of people that are at risk." Scientists say melting glaciers will raise sea levels for decades, but the loss of inland glaciers also acutely affects those living nearby who rely on them for water for drinking water and agriculture. No way to stop the melting Scientists say greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal have already locked in enough global warming to doom many of the world's glaciers — which already have retreated significantly. For example, glaciers in the Alps have lost 50% of their area since 1950, and the rate at which ice is being lost has been accelerating, with "projections ... that all the glaciers in the Alps could be gone in this century," Thompson said. Switzerland, which has the most glaciers of any country in Europe, saw 4% of its total glacier volume disappear in 2023, the second-biggest decline in a single year after a 6% drop in 2022. A 2023 study found that Peru has lost more than half of its glacier surface in the last six decades, and 175 glaciers disappeared due to climate change between 2016 and 2020, mostly due to the increase in the average global temperature. A study published Thursday in Science said that even if global temperatures stabilized at their current level, 40% of the world's glaciers still would be lost. But if warming were limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit ) — the long-term warming limit since the late 1800s called for by the 2015 Paris climate agreement — twice as much glacier ice could be preserved than would be otherwise. Even so, many areas will become ice-free no matter what, Truffer, the University of Alaska expert. "There's places in Alaska where we've shown that it doesn't take any more global warming," for them to disappear, Truffer said. "The reason some ... (still) exist is simply because it takes a certain amount of time for them to melt. But the climate is already such that they're screwed."
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Swiss glacier collapse renews focus on risks of climate change as glaciers retreat around the world
The landslide that buried most of a Swiss village this week is focusing renewed attention on the role of global warming in glacier collapses around the world and the increasing dangers. How glaciers collapse — from the Alps and Andes to the Himalayas and Antarctica — can differ, scientists say. But in almost every instance, climate change is playing a role. In Switzerland, the mountainside gave way Wednesday near the village of Blatten, in the southern Lötschental valley, because the rock face above the Birch Glacier had become unstable when mountain permafrost melted, causing debris to fall and cover the glacier in recent years, said Martin Truffer, a physics professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks who studies how glaciers move. While the debris insulated the glacier and slowed melting, its weight caused the ice to begin moving — which accelerated dramatically a few weeks ago. Authorities ordered the evacuation of about 300 people, as well as all livestock, from the village in recent days, 'when it became clear that there's a whole mountainside that's about to collapse,' said Truffer, who is from Switzerland. Glacial lakes pose threat Lakes that form at the base of glaciers as they melt and retreat also sometimes burst, often with catastrophic results. Water can even lift an entire glacier, allowing it to drain, said Truffer, adding that Alaska's capital of Juneau has flooded in recent years because a lake forms every year on a rapidly retreating glacier and eventually bursts. In 2022, an apartment building-sized chunk of the Marmolada glacier in Italy's Dolomite mountains detached during a summer heat wave, sending an avalanche of debris down the popular summer hiking destination, killing 11. A glacier in Tibet's Aru mountain range suddenly collapsed in 2016, killing nine people and their livestock, followed a few months later by the collapse of another glacier. There also have been collapses in Peru, including one in 2006 that caused a mini tsunami; most recently, a glacial lagoon overflowed in April, triggering a landslide that killed two. 'It's amazing sometimes how rapidly they can collapse,' said Lonnie Thompson, a glacier expert at the Ohio State University. 'The instability of these glaciers is a real and growing problem, and there are thousands and thousands of people that are at risk.' Scientists say melting glaciers will raise sea levels for decades, but the loss of inland glaciers also acutely affects those living nearby who rely on them for water for drinking water and agriculture. No way to stop the melting Scientists say greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal have already locked in enough global warming to doom many of the world's glaciers — which already have retreated significantly. For example, glaciers in the Alps have lost 50% of their area since 1950, and the rate at which ice is being lost has been accelerating, with 'projections ... that all the glaciers in the Alps could be gone in this century,' Thompson said. Switzerland, which has the most glaciers of any country in Europe, saw 4% of its total glacier volume disappear in 2023, the second-biggest decline in a single year after a 6% drop in 2022. A 2023 study found that Peru has lost more than half of its glacier surface in the last six decades, and 175 glaciers disappeared due to climate change between 2016 and 2020, mostly due to the increase in the average global temperature. A study published Thursday in Science said that even if global temperatures stabilized at their current level, 40% of the world's glaciers still would be lost. But if warming were limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit ) — the long-term warming limit since the late 1800s called for by the 2015 Paris climate agreement — twice as much glacier ice could be preserved than would be otherwise. Even so, many areas will become ice-free no matter what, Truffer, the University of Alaska expert. 'There's places in Alaska where we've shown that it doesn't take any more global warming,' for them to disappear, Truffer said. 'The reason some ... (still) exist is simply because it takes a certain amount of time for them to melt. But the climate is already such that they're screwed.' ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at Tammy Webber, The Associated Press
Euronews
3 days ago
- Science
- Euronews
Swiss glacier collapse highlights rising risk from global warming
The landslide that buried most of a Swiss village this week is focusing renewed attention on the role of global warming in glacier collapses around the world and the increasing dangers. How glaciers collapse - from the Alps and Andes to the Himalayas and Antarctica - can differ, scientists say. But in almost every instance, climate change is playing a role. In Switzerland, the mountainside gave way Wednesday near the village of Blatten, in the southern Lötschental valley, because the rock face above the Birch Glacier had become unstable when mountain permafrost melted, causing debris to fall and cover the glacier in recent years, said Martin Truffer, a physics professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks who studies how glaciers move. While the debris insulated the glacier and slowed melting, its weight caused the ice to begin moving - which accelerated dramatically a few weeks ago. Authorities ordered the evacuation of about 300 people, as well as all livestock, from the village in recent days, 'when it became clear that there's a whole mountainside that's about to collapse,' said Truffer, who is from Switzerland. Lakes that form at the base of glaciers as they melt and retreat also sometimes burst, often with catastrophic results. Water can even lift an entire glacier, allowing it to drain, said Truffer, adding that Alaska's capital of Juneau has flooded in recent years because a lake forms every year on a rapidly retreating glacier and eventually bursts. In 2022, an apartment building-sized chunk of the Marmolada glacier in Italy's Dolomite mountains detached during a summer heat wave, sending an avalanche of debris down the popular summer hiking destination, killing 11. A glacier in Tibet's Aru mountain range suddenly collapsed in 2016, killing nine people and their livestock, followed a few months later by the collapse of another glacier. There also have been collapses in Peru, including one in 2006 that caused a mini tsunami; most recently, a glacial lagoon overflowed in April, triggering a landslide that killed two. 'It's amazing sometimes how rapidly they can collapse,' said Lonnie Thompson, a glacier expert at the Ohio State University. 'The instability of these glaciers is a real and growing problem, and there are thousands and thousands of people that are at risk.' Scientists say melting glaciers will raise sea levels for decades, but the loss of inland glaciers also acutely affects those living nearby who rely on them for water for drinking water and agriculture. Scientists say greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal have already locked in enough global warming to doom many of the world's glaciers - which already have retreated significantly. For example, glaciers in the Alps have lost 50 per cent of their area since 1950, and the rate at which ice is being lost has been accelerating, with 'projections ... that all the glaciers in the Alps could be gone in this century,' Thompson said. Switzerland, which has the most glaciers of any country in Europe, saw 4 per cent of its total glacier volume disappear in 2023, the second-biggest decline in a single year after a 6 per cent drop in 2022. A 2023 study found that Peru has lost more than half of its glacier surface in the last six decades, and 175 glaciers disappeared due to climate change between 2016 and 2020, mostly due to the increase in the average global temperature. A study published Thursday in Science said that even if global temperatures stabilized at their current level, 40 per cent of the world's glaciers still would be lost. But if warming were limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius - the long-term warming limit since the late 1800s called for by the 2015 Paris climate agreement - twice as much glacier ice could be preserved than would be otherwise. Even so, many areas will become ice-free no matter what, Truffer, the University of Alaska expert. 'There's places in Alaska where we've shown that it doesn't take any more global warming,' for them to disappear, Truffer said. 'The reason some ... (still) exist is simply because it takes a certain amount of time for them to melt. But the climate is already such that they're screwed.' After British journalist Dom Phillips was killed while researching an ambitious book on how to protect the world's largest rainforest, friends vowed to finish the project. Three years later, their task is complete. 'How to Save the Amazon' published yesterday (28 May) in Brazil and the UK ahead of its US release on 10 June. It was pieced together by fellow journalists who immersed themselves in Phillips' notes, outlines and the handful of chapters he'd already written. The resulting book pairs Phillips' own writing with others' contributions in a powerful examination of the cause for which he gave his life. In addition to the core group who led the work on finishing the book, other colleagues and friends helped to edit chapters, including AP journalists Fabiano Maisonnave and David Biller. Phillips, who had been a regular contributor to The Guardian newspaper, was taking one of the final reporting trips planned for his book when he was gunned down by fishermen on 5 June 2022, in western Amazon's Javari Valley. Also killed was Bruno Pereira, a Brazilian expert on Indigenous tribes who had made enemies in the region for defending the local communities from intruding fishermen, poachers and illegal gold miners. Their deaths made headlines around the world. Nine people have been indicted in the killings. 'It was just a horrifying, really sad moment. Everybody was trying to think: How can you deal with something like this? And the book was there,' said Jonathan Watts, an Amazon-based environmental writer for The Guardian who co-authored the foreword and one of the chapters. With the blessing of Phillips' widow, Alessandra Sampaio, a group of five friends agreed to carry the project forward. The group led by Watts also included Andrew Fishman, the Rio-based president of The Intercept Brasil; Phillips' agent, Rebecca Carter; David Davies, a colleague from his days in London as a music journalist; and Tom Hennigan, Latin America correspondent for The Irish Times. 'It was a way to not just feel awful about what had happened, but to get on with something. Especially because so many of Dom's friends are journalists,' Watts said. 'And what you fall back on is what you know best, which is journalism.' By the time of his death, Phillips had travelled extensively across the Amazon and had completed an introduction and nearly four of the 10 planned chapters. He also left behind an outline of the remaining chapters, with different degrees of detail, and many pages of handwritten notes, some of them barely legible. 'I think it's fair to say even Dom didn't yet know what he would do exactly in those chapters,' Watts said. Phillips was searching for hope. He promised his editors a character-driven travel book in which readers would get to know a wide-ranging cast of people living in the area, 'all of whom know and understand the Amazon intimately and have innovative solutions for the millions of people who live there.' The group led by Watts selected writers for the remaining chapters, with subjects ranging from a bioeconomy initiative in Brazil's Acre state to global funding for rainforest preservation. Indigenous leader Beto Marubo of the Javari Valley was recruited to co-write an afterword. The team also launched a successful crowdfunding campaign to pay for more reporting trips. Among the group's challenges was ensuring that the book reflected a political shift in Brazil's approach to the Amazon in the years since Phillips' death. Most of Phillips' research was done during the term of right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, as Brazil's Amazon deforestation reached a 15-year high in 2021. The pace of destruction slowed after Bolsonaro's 2022 defeat by leftist leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Throughout the finished book's more than 300 pages, fragments of hope mix with grim realities. In Chapter 2, 'Cattle Chaos,' Phillips notes that 16 per cent of Brazil's Amazon has already been converted to pasture. Even a farmer who has become a model for successfully increasing productivity without clearing most of his land is criticised for his widespread use of fertilisers. In his chapter on bioeconomy, journalist Jon Lee Anderson visits a reforestation initiative where Benki Piyãko, an Ashaninka leader, promotes environmental restoration coupled with ayahuasca treatment and a fish farm. But the veteran reporter doesn't see how it can be scalable and reproducible given man-made threats and climate change. Later in the chapter, he quotes Marek Hanusch, a German economist for the World Bank, as saying: 'At the end of the day, deforestation is a macroeconomic choice, and so long as Brazil's growth model is based on agriculture, you're going to see expansion into the Amazon.' In the foreword, the group of five organizers state that 'Like Dom, none of us was under any illusion that our writing would save the Amazon, but we could certainly follow his lead in asking the people who might know.' But in this book stained by blood and dim hope, there is another message, according to Watts: 'The most important thing is that this is all about solidarity with our friend and with journalism in general.'
Business Insider
19-05-2025
- Science
- Business Insider
9 stunning natural mysteries scientists can't fully explain
Eternal Flame Falls, New York In New York's Chestnut Ridge Park, a flickering fire lends its name to the Eternal Flame Falls. Protected from the waterfall in a rocky alcove, it can burn on its own indefinitely, though it does sometimes go out. It's an extremely rare phenomenon. There are fewer than 50 eternal flames around the world, geologist Giuseppe Etiope told National Geographic in 2024. Flammable natural gas, created when extremely high temperatures cook organic materials, seeps out from underground, constantly fueling the flame. Humans, forest fires, or lightning might set them alight. What's unusual about the flame in New York is that its source, over 1,300 feet below the surface in the Rhinestreet Shale formation, is comparatively cool. "The traditional hypothesis of how natural gas forms is, you have to heat to more than boiling water," researcher Arndt Schimmelmann told State Impact Pennsylvania in 2013. "But our rock here is not that hot and has never been that hot." One of the researchers' theories was that minerals like iron or nickel could provide the flame's catalyst. European eels, Sargasso Sea Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote, "Eels are derived from the so-called 'earth's guts' that grow spontaneously in mud and in humid ground." Over 2,000 years later, scientists knew that wasn't true, but they still had no idea how eels reproduced. Danish biologist Johannes Schmidt traced migrating European eels to what he believed was their spawning location in the Sargasso Sea. Some travel over 3,000 miles to reach the region of the North Atlantic bounded by four currents. That discovery was over 100 years ago, and scientists still have questions about how European eels travel, including how they navigate, their routes, and how quickly they swim. Learning more about how these eels reproduce is critical because the number arriving in Europe has plummeted by 95% since the 1980s. In 2022, scientists published a paper describing how they had tagged eels and confirmed that adults do migrate to the Sargasso Sea, possibly to spawn. Despite years of research, no one has found adult eels or eggs at the location, causing some to doubt it's the site of reproduction. Slippery as an eel, indeed. Savonoski Crater, Alaska Fly over Katmai National Monument in southwestern Alaska, and you'll see a lake that looks almost too perfect not to be human-made. It's over 1,600 feet across and more than 360 feet deep. Melting snow and rain have filled in a crater, which formed sometime during or before the last ice age. In the 1960s and '70s, scientists studying the Savonoski Crater tried to find evidence of a meteoric impact. It does seem possible a meteor caused the deep, round hole. However, receding glaciers likely took any remnants of the impact with them. The crater could also be the result of a volcanic maar, which University of Alaska Fairbanks professor T. Neil Davis described as a "volcano that tried but failed" in a 1978 article on the mysterious Savonoski puzzle. When a magma pipe hits a water table near the earth's surface, it erupts in an explosion of steam, forming a rock pit. The maar continues to spew smoke and ash before subsiding due to a lack of pressure. Singing sand, China In Josephine Tey's 1952 novel "The Singing Sands," a police inspector gets caught up in a murder investigation involving an enigmatic poem: "The beasts that talk, The streams that stand, The stones that walk, The singing sand…" While the story is fiction, singing sand is very real, found in Indiana, Japan, Egypt, and California. Many, like those in Dunhuang, China, have become tourist attractions. A low, vibrational hum emanates from sand spilling down dunes in these locations, sometimes loud enough to be heard 6 miles away. Certain conditions, like the size, shape, and silica content of the sand, have to align to produce the singing, according to NOAA. Just why the frequencies of the tumbling sand sound like music is still a mystery, according to a 2012 study. Fairy Circles, Namib Desert For decades, barren patches in the Namib Desert's arid grasslands have baffled scientists. Nicknamed " fairy circles," they stand out against the surrounding Southern Africa's green vegetation. Some scientists have suggested that colonies of termites consume the plants and burrow in the soil, creating a ring that grows larger and larger. In a 2022 study, a group of researchers said they found no evidence of the insects in the circles they studied. Instead, they used sensors to monitor the plants' moisture uptake. Their results suggested that ecohydrological feedback caused the bare circles. Essentially, these patches sacrificed having vegetation to divert more water to areas with grasses. "These grasses end up in a circle because that's the most logical structure to maximize the water available to each individual plant," Stephan Getzin, an ecologist who led the study, told CNN in 2022. Other researchers have posited that microbes could be a potential culprit for similar circles in Australia. Devil's Kettle, Minnesota For years, curious visitors to Judge C. R. Magney State Park flung sticks, ping-pong balls, and colorful dyes into the Brule River to try and trace its flow. As it moves through the park, it spills out into several waterfalls, including the Devil's Kettle. Part of the water cascades into a hole, and no one knew exactly where it went afterward. Some thought it might stream underground toward Canada or Lake Superior. In 2017, hydrologists compared the amount of water above and below the falls, and it was almost identical. In other words, the water wasn't leaving at all but fed right back into the river at the base of the waterfall. Scientists think they have a pretty good idea where the water reemerges, but they don't know for sure, hydrologist Jeff Green told Vice's "Science Solved It" podcast in 2018. So where did all those ping-pong balls end up? The powerful, swirling currents would have smashed them to pieces, Green said. Earthquake lights, Mexico When a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit near Acapulco in 2021, people in Mexico City, hundreds of miles away, used their phone cameras to capture strange lights in the sky. Blue flashes lit up the sky like lightning. Not all experts are convinced that earthquake lights exist, though they've been documented for centuries all over the world. Some scientists thought the flickers were from a damaged power grid or rainstorm, NPR reported. Others are studying the phenomenon in hopes of using the lights, which sometimes occur prior to the earthquake, as a kind of early warning signal. First, though, they would need to figure out why these flashes occur. A recent paper examined several possible causes of the lights, including escaping methane gas ignited by static electricity. Lake Hillier, Australia Off the coast of Western Australia is the vibrantly pink Lake Hillier. It looks surreal, as if someone dumped a massive amount of Pepto-Bismol into its super-salty waters. Biologists have hypothesized that pigment-producing microbes are responsible for the lake's bright shade. In 2022, researchers published a study after looking at the water's microbiome. They found a number of bacteria, viruses, and algae. Some produced purple sulfur, and others were associated with a red-orange color. Together, they combined to make the pink color. Researchers noted that other organisms could contribute, and further studies would have to be done. That same year, there was a huge amount of rainfall, diluting the saltiness that's also a key factor in the color. Today, the lake is only tinged pink, but scientists think the brightness will return as more water evaporates, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported earlier this year. Fosse Dionne, France People have used the Fosse Dionne for centuries, drinking in the turquoise waters without ever knowing where the rushing spring originated. In the 1700s, residents built a laundry around it to take advantage of the flow, which pours out over 82 gallons a second. Located in Tonnerre, France, the spring feeds into a basin. Depending on the weather and other factors, its hue can change from green to blue to brown, the city's mayor told the BBC in 2019. Local legends said a mythical, snake-like basilisk once made the pit its home. About a quarter mile of its course is known, but divers have lost their lives exploring the flooded cave along the route. A professional diver, Pierre-Éric Deseigne, has reached unexplored areas of the cave but couldn't find the Fosse Dionne's origin, the BBC reported in 2019.
