11:12, 08 августа 2020, Bishkek - 24.kg news agency , Maria ORLOVA
The Ministry of Emergency Situations of Kyrgyzstan examines state of high altitude lakes. Press service of the ministry reported.
There are 335 breakthrough-hazardous lakes in Kyrgyzstan. At least 17 of them are included in the first category.
«One of the manifestations of the consequences of climate change on the territory of Kyrgyzstan is the degradation and gradual retreat of glaciers and thawing of permafrost soils. Retreat of glaciers is connected with disappearance of a number of old lakes and an increase in the number of new breakthrough-hazardous high-mountain lakes,» the ministry noted.
Breakthroughs of high altitude lakes in the republic are rare, but extremely destructive.
«In 2018, officials of the ministry decided to examine part of the high-mountain lakes by foot expeditions consisting of specialists from the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the State Committee for Industry, Energy and Subsoil Use, the Central-Asian Institute for Applied Geosciences. The experience gained has shown that in case of a breakthrough of moraine-glacial lakes, it is almost impossible to predict the moment when the mudflow process starts, but it is possible to detect areas where they are possible, to determine the periods when their occurrence is most likely. As a rule, it is a hot summer time, when moraine-glacial lakes are overflowing with water,» the ministry noted.