PHOTO IN THE NEWS: Lake Vanishes Suddenly in Chile

Associated Press in Santiago, Chile

April 17, National Geographic

Melting ice in southern Chile caused a glacial lake to swell and then empty suddenly, sending a "tsunami" rolling through a river, a scientist said Thursday.

No one was injured in the remote region.

Glacier scientist Gino Casassa said the melting of the Colonia glacier, which he blamed on global warming, filled the Cachet Lake (above) and increased pressure on the ice sheet.

The water bored a five-mile (eight-kilometer) tunnel through the glacier and finally emptied into the Baker River on April 6.

"The remarkable thing is that the mass of water moved against the current of the river," Casassa told the Associated Press by telephone from the Center for Scientific Studies in the southern city of Valdivia. "It was a real river tsunami."

The lake was nearly full again by late Wednesday, he said.

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photo by National Geographic