As the glaciers melt unconventionally, it will eventually result in water shortages. Sikkum contains Kangchenjunga, the third highest peak on Earth and one of the mountains examined in the study. The melting of Himalayan glaciers has doubled since the turn of the century, with more than a quarter of all ice lost over the last four decades, scientists have revealed. Dust, climate change and air pollution are triple threat to water source for a billion people. The new study synthesizes datafrom across the region, stretchingfrom early satellite observations to the present. The synthesisindicatesthat the melting is consistent in time and space, and that rising temperatures are to blame. Himalayan glaciers melting at alarming rate, spy satellites show Hotter temperatures have melted as much as a quarter of Himalayan glacial ice in the past 40 years, reveals a study of. Due to climate change, these glaciers are melting twice as fast as they were in the year 2000. For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service, Melting of Himalayan glaciers: a far-reaching impact on the water resources. Water originating from their snow, glaciers and rainfall feed the ten largest river systems in Asia. If it is not addressed early, it will be too late. Similarly, a mean thinning of ~5011 m with a mean annual mass loss of 1.09 0.32 mw.e. Excessive melting doesnt let meltwater mix with rainfall and groundwater, which is used for crop irrigation and future supply during drought. "#Warmerair is thinning most of the vast mountain range's #glaciers, known as the Third Pole because they contain so much ice. In 2022, glaciers in the Swiss Alps melted more than any other year on record and have lost an average of 6.2% of their ice. Similarly, several studies have concluded that glaciers across the Himalayas are melting at an extraordinary rate, faster than anywhere on the globe. Some researchers have argued thatfactors other than temperature areaffecting the glaciers. Various Indian institutes, organizations and universities are monitoring the Himalayan glaciers using remote sensing data at large scale to assess the calamities associated with the melting. The Earth has already surpassed 1 degree Celsius of warming. Reasons behind fast melting of glaciers: Melting of Himalayan glaciers has doubled since the start of the 21st century due to rising temperatures, losing over a vertical foot and half of ice each year and potentially threatening water supply for hundreds of millions of people in countries, including India, according to a study published in 2019. a1 was observed for the Baspa basin during 2000-2011. Maurer is the lead author of a study using satellite imagery to show that in the past 20 years, Himalayan glaciers melted twice as fast as they did in the 1980s and '90s. The ice and snow in the region are the source for Asias mighty rivers including the Indus, the Yangtze, and the Ganga-Brahmaputra. The government has carried out studies and maintains data regarding melting of glaciers in the Indian Himalayan region. Many of the 20th-centuryobservations came from recently declassified photographic images taken by U.S. spy satellites. These studies have produced sometimes contradictory results, both regarding the degree of ice loss and the causes. The UN's climate science body has admitted that a claim made in its 2007 report - that Himalayan glaciers could melt away by 2035 - was unfounded. Ice sheets across the Himalayas have shrunk 10 times faster in the past four decades than during the previous seven centuries. This event took place on June 3, 2021 Protecting the Himalayan Glaciers Follow the event on Twitter #MeltingGlaciers The mountain ranges of the Himalayas, the Hindu Kush, and the Karakoram span 2,400 kilometers across six nations and contain 60,000 km of ice - storing more water than anywhere besides the Arctic and Antarctic. Desert dust from as far away as Saudi Arabia gets picked up by winds that carry it to the snowpack of the Himalayas, where it accelerates glacial warming and snowmelt, scientists say. To confirm this, he and his colleaguescompiled temperature data during the study period from ground stations and then calculated the amount of melting that observed temperature increases would be expected to produce. The greater runoff causes the rivers to flood. Around 1.9 billion people across the South Asian subcontinent depend upon Himalayan glaciers for drinking water, agriculture and energy. Asia is facing an epic disaster between extreme heat waves and reduced water flows from the Himalaya, says Columbia Universitys Schaefer. The seasonal runoff from Himalayan glaciers, to some degree, provides different water services to about 800 million people for the purposes including irrigation, hydropower and drinking water. Researchers calculated the amount of melting likely to result from warmer temperatures to confirm that one degree was indeed enough to produce such a massive loss of glacier ice. Pakistan's climate change minister tweeted videos of the destruction and blamed "high . It also shortens the glacier. But in the mountainous Karakoram region of Asia home to K2, the second-highest peak on Earth the glaciers . glaciers are large bodies of ice that can be formed high in the mountains? Glaciers in the Himalayas are melting at an "exceptional" rate, according to new research that shows the massive ice sheets in the region have shrunk 10 times faster in the past four decades than during the previous seven centuries. As global warming increases, glaciers melt faster and faster from the bottom, reducing their mass. The #melting could have far-reaching consequences for #flood #risk . Another factor: Asian nations are burning ever-greater loads of fossil fuels and biomass, sending soot into the sky. Following a more pronounced warming trend starting in the 1990s,starting in 2000 the loss accelerated toabouthalf a meter (20 inches)annually. It shows how endangered [the Himalayas] are if climate change continues at the same pace in the coming decades, said Etienne Berthier, a glaciologist atFrances Laboratory for Studies in Geophysics and Spatial Oceanography, who also was not involved in the study. The mass balance studies conducted for some Himalayan glaciers by University of Kashmir, Sikkim University, IISc and WIHG, revealed that majority of Himalayan glaciers are melting or retreating at varying rates. Some 800 million people depend in part on seasonal runoff from Himalayan glaciers for irrigation, hydropower, and drinking water. A regular reduction in usual winter snowfall leads to water shortage. COVID-19 can interfere with your period in many ways. They found that from 1975 to 2000, glaciers across the region lost an average ofabout 0.25 meters (10 inches) of ice each year in the face of slight warming. By continuing to use this website, you consent to Columbia University's usage of cookies and similar technologies, in accordance with the, potentially destructive and deadly outburst floods, https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/02/05/691578203/report-global-warming-could-melt-at-least-a-third-of-himalayan-glaciers, Intervention and Implementation Science Pilot Award Program, Columbia University Website Cookie Notice. Melting ice leads to rising in global sea level. Any opinions and views expressed on or through the above content/blogs are those of the designated authors/bloggers and do not necessarily represent views of Times Internet Limited ("Company"). A Division of NBCUniversal. The greater runoff causes the rivers to flood. Seriously, global warming is a great threat to the Himalayas. The accelerated meltingappears so far to be swelling runoff during warm seasons, butscientists project that thiswill taper off within decades as the glaciers lose mass. Much of it is covered by rocky debris. As glaciers melt in the Himalayas, such flooding may worsen. "Undoubtedly the primary driver is a rapidly changing climate, and the Himalayan glaciers don't seem to be able to adjust fast enough to keep up with the climate changes," said Jonathan Carrivick, a University of Leeds glaciologist and a co-author of the study. The continued melting will lead to change in glacier basin hydrology, downstream water budget, and impact on hydropower plants due to variation in discharge, flash flood, and . Overall, he says, temperature is the overarching force. As a result, in many high-mountain drainages, meltwater lakes are building rapidly behind natural dams of rocky debris; these are threatening downstream communities with potentially destructive and deadly outburst floods. However, few researchers have attempted to rigorously examine and quantify the causes. GSI has conducted studies on melting of the glaciers by assessment of mass balance on nine glaciers and also carried out monitoring the recession/ advancement of 76 glaciers in Himalayan region. Department of Science and Technology (DST) has supported various R&D projects for studying Himalayan Glaciers under the National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE) and National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change (NMSKCC). India's record-smashing heatwave, Pakistan's floods and accelerating glacial melt in the "rooftop of the world" could shift the tenor of climate negotiations at COP27, which is taking place in . Please be respectful of copyright. Would love your thoughts, please comment. The fact that glaciers in the Himalayan mountains are thinning is not disputed. The. If the natural dam holding a. Once a dystopian fantasy, manipulating sunlight to cool the earth is now on the White House research agenda, All 50 states get green light to build EV charging stations covering 75,000 miles of highways, Patagonia founder just donated the entire company, worth $3 billion, to fight climate change. The acceleration of melting of Himalayan glaciers has significant implications for hundreds of millions of people who depend on Asia's major river systems for food and energy. According to Scientists, global sea levels are rising 0.13 inches every year. Its also threatening water supplies for hundreds of millions of people downstream across much of Asia. 06 APR 2022 12:36PM by PIB Delhi, Posted On: All rights reserved, ice loss is accelerating with rising temperatures, representing 55 percent of the glacial ice, seasonal flooding and the creation of many glacial lakes. WIHG is also monitoring Durung-Drung and Pensilungpa glaciers in Suru basin, Ladakh, which are retreating at 12 m/a and ~ 5.6 m/a, respectively. Black carbon speeding up melting of glaciers, posing water scarcity threat to millions, report finds Himalayan glaciers provide water to hundreds of millions of people, but they're melting faster because of climate change and threatening level of pollution, which is likely to get only worse if actions are not taken in time. Majority of Himalayan glaciers are observed melting/ retreating at varying rates in different regions. With the result of melting glaciers, the lakes are growing. Scientists say the accelerated melting of Asia's estimated 56,000 glaciers is creating hundreds of new lakes across the Himalaya and other high mountain ranges. Scotland could become first rewilded nationwhat does that mean? The glaciers are a critical source of water for about 250 million people in the mountains and an additional 1.65 billion who live in the river valleys below, according to a report in 2019. Declassified images from those satellites were turned into 3-D models to show what the glaciers elevations and sizes were in the 1970s, Maurer said. 817. yaleclimateconnections.org. The study is the latest and perhapsmost convincing indication that climate change iseatingthe Himalayas glaciers, potentially threatening water supplies for hundreds of millions of people downstream across much of Asia. WIHG is monitoring a few glaciers in Uttarakhand, which reveal that the Dokriani Glacier in the Bhagirathi basin is retreating at 15-20 m/a since 1995, whereas Chorabari Glacier in the Mandakini basin is retreating at 9-11 m/a during 2003-2017. The accelerating melting of the Himalayan glaciers threatens the water supply of millions of people in Asia, new research warns. The study, led by the University of Leeds, concludes that over recent decades the Himalayan glaciers have lost ice ten times more quickly over the last few decades than on average since the last major glacier expansion 400-700 years ago, a period known as the Little . The sea level and global stability depend on how these great masses of recrystallized snow evolve. But up to now, observations have been somewhat fragmented, zeroing in on shorter time periods, or only individual glaciers or certain regions. Some parts of the Himalayan region are warming fast, three times faster than the global average. The accelerating. They matched. Video: Himalayan glacier breaks free, causing deadly flooding in India While not specifically calculatedin the study,the glaciers may have lost as much as a quarter of their enormous mass over the last four decades, said Maurer. There is scientific consensus that human-caused climate change has resulted in accelerated ice melt from glaciers and polar ice sheets, as well as higher ocean temperatures across the globe. This is the first comprehensive look at whats happened to glaciers in the Himalaya over a 40-year time span, said lead author Joshua Maurer at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Further, the Company does not make any warranty as to the correctness or reliability of such content. Oblique view of the Himalayas on the border of Sikkim, India and eastern Nepal, captured Dec. 20, 1975 by a KH-9 HEXAGON spy satellite. University of Leeds. Some 800 million people depend in part on seasonal runoff fromHimalayan glaciers for irrigation, hydropower and drinking water. Listen to article. monitor Himalayan glaciers for various scientific studies including glacier melting and have reported accelerated heterogeneous mass loss in Himalayan glaciers.The mean retreat rate of Hindu Kush Himalayan glaciers is 14.9 15.1 meter/annum (m/a); which varies from 12.7 13.2 m/a in Indus, 15.5 14.4 m/a in Ganga and 20.2 19.7 m/a in Brahmaputra river basins. We need a societal awakening and to spend a significant part of our economy to avoid the catastrophic risks were facing., Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic SocietyCopyright 2015-2022 National Geographic Partners, LLC. Some researchers have argued that factors other than temperature are affecting the glaciers. Everest is in the background at left. NIH has been conducting several studies for the assessment of runoff from melting of glaciers at catchment and basin scales across Himalaya.