Meltwater Waterfalls

Meltwater is the water released by the melting of snow or ice, including glacial ice and ice shelfs over oceans. Often, there will be rivers flowing through glaciers into lakes. These brilliantly blue lakes get their color from "rock flour", sediment that has been transported through the rivers to the lakes. This sediment comes from rocks grinding together underneath the glacier. The fine powder is then suspended in the water and refracts sunlight therefor giving the milky turquoise appearance. Meltwater can be an indication of abrupt climate change. It can also destabilize glacial lakes leading to sudden floods, and destabilize snowpack causing avalanches. This sound uses the following sound file from Freesound (http://www.freesound.org): Meltwater Distant.wav by Benboncan