Public radio’s longest-running daily global news program.AboutContactDonateMeet the TeamPrivacyTerms of use©2026 The World from PRXPRX is a 501(c)(3) organization recognized by the IRS: #263347402.As temperatures rise, glacier collapse may become more commonExperts and officials have pointed to a collapsing glacier high in the Himalayas as the trigger for deadly flash flooding in Tibet and Nepal last week. Climate scientists warn that global warming may make glacial collapse, and the subsequent landslides and flooding it can cause, more frequent. National Geographic Explorer Paul Salopek recently joined an expedition of scientists studying the link between climate change and a landslide-induced tsunami in Alaska, and he tells Host Carolyn Beeler what he learned. Out of Eden WalkSeptember 8, 2026Updated: September 8, 20268:10Surveying the scene of the tsunami in Alaska that shotgunned down Tracy Arm fjord’s narrow channel at speeds up to 160 kilometers an hour.Reporting for this story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.The World has been covering ongoing recovery efforts in Tibet and Nepal following last week’s flash flooding.Scientists and officials alike have attributed the collapse of a glacier high in the Himalayas to the disaster. Climate scientists warn that similar events may become more common as rising temperatures make more glaciers unstable and prone to collapse.National Geographic Explorer Paul Salopek recently got a close-up look at the connection between climate change and glaciers, and the landslides they cause. He joined an expedition of scientists last year to measure the impact of a landslide-induced tsunami in an Alaskan fjord.“It’s gorgeous. It’s this kind of wild fjord landscape: a very steep-walled canyon on the coast of southeastern Alaska that was a very big destination for the cruise ship circuit,” Salopek said. “If you wanted to go glacier viewing, this was one of the fjords you steamed up, which makes it all the more remarkable that nobody got hurt.”Tsunamis and landslides, or the combination of both, are part of the Earth’s natural erosion process. But what’s happening now, Carolyn, is that because the world is warming from human-caused climate change, an older, colder, more frozen world is crumbling. So, the disappearance and shrinkage of glaciers, the loss of ice at the base of mountains that used to buttress them for thousands of years, and the melting of permafrost are causing massive instability, which is leading to more and more of these catastrophic events.That’s right. The kind of higher latitudes, or even the colder corners of the world that are at high elevation, are going to have to be looking up a bit more. That village in Switzerland, thankfully, was evacuated, but it was the same thing: masses of rock crashing and smashing a glacier that was in rapid retreat. You know, the way I compare it is, imagine a cathedral, but you’re knocking away the buttresses that hold up the spires. And that’s sort of what’s happening here. In Alaska, there are many of these fjords. And what really concerns disaster relief folks working with these researchers is that Alaska’s population is often concentrated on these narrow strips of coastline, so they’re vulnerable.“Hig” Higman (left) and boat handler Tony Perelli conduct fieldwork 80 meters above the fjord’s normal water line. All soil and vegetation at the spot has been clawed away by the power of the passing tsunami. Paul Salopek/National Geographic, Out of Eden WalkYeah, it was an emotional response. To kind of be in the middle of this really beautiful place where there had been, you know, colonies of harbor seals basking on the ice floes at the foot of the glacier. There were birds probably whirling overhead. Again, all of this is just assumed on previous knowledge that got wiped out. And so, what struck me is kind of the cruelty that we inflict on each other as human beings in wars, which I’ve seen firsthand as a war correspondent. The aftermath of the Tracy Arm tsunami reminded me of that kind of hazardous silence that sometimes lingers over battlefields, because it was, of course, quiet by the time we got there. It was a haunting experience. And to be able to go around and see it up front, put my hand on the rocks that had been stripped away, and try to sense what had happened there was very moving and reminded me of the violence that we inflict, knowingly or unknowingly, on nature because of our technological civilization, right? And so, that’s a little bit what I wrote about in my story: kind of this notion of collective responsibility.Are we part of nature or are we apart from nature? What’s our responsibility to help protect it?Parts of this interview have been lightly edited for length and clarity.Writer and National Geographic Explorer Paul Salopek has embarked on a 24,000-mile storytelling trek across the world called the “Out of Eden Walk.” The National Geographic Society, committed to illuminating and protecting the wonders of our world, has funded Salopek’s project since 2013. Explore the project here. Follow the journey on X at @PaulSalopek, @outofedenwalk.