Himalayan Glaciers "Melting Fast", Water Shortages Loom - BBC

[hatrack]

"Melting glaciers in the Himalayas could lead to water shortages for hundreds of millions of people, the conservation group WWF has warned. In a report, the WWF says India, China and Nepal could experience floods followed by droughts in coming decades. The Himalayas contain the largest store of water outside the polar ice caps, and feed seven great Asian rivers.

The group says immediate action against climate change could slow the rate of melting, which is increasing annually. "The rapid melting of Himalayan glaciers will first increase the volume of water in rivers, causing widespread flooding," said Jennifer Morgan, director of the WWF's Global Climate Change Programme. "But in a few decades this situation will change and the water level in rivers will decline, meaning massive eco and environmental problems for people in western China, Nepal and northern India."


The glaciers, which regulate the water supply to the Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra, Mekong, Thanlwin, Yangtze and Yellow rivers, are believed to be retreating at a rate of about 10-15m (33-49ft) each year. Hundreds of millions of people throughout China and the Indian subcontinent - most of whom live far from the Himalayas - rely on water supplied from these rivers. Many live on flood plains highly vulnerable to raised water levels. And vast numbers of farmers rely on regular irrigation to grow their crops successfully."

EDIT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4346211.stm

[German worker]

1. In 1972 they told us the Himalaya glaciers were growing so fast

that the would envelope the entire region in 50 years; so what gives?

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Perhaps they were wrong in 1972

Tell us who 'they' were, what they said then, and what their evidence was, and we'll see if we can answer it.

On edit: Perhaps you were misinformed. From the WWF report:

Himalayan glaciers have been in a state of general retreat since 1850 (Mayewski & Jeschke 1979) and recent publications confirm that, for many, the rate of retreat is accelerating. Jangpang and Vohra (1962), Kurien and Munshi (1972), Srikanta and Pandi (1972), Vohra (1981), and many others have made significant studies on the glacier snout fluctuation of the Himalayan glaciers. But a dramatic increase in the rate seems to have occurred in last three decades. In 1998, researchers LA Owen and MC Sharma showed, by studying the longitudinal profiles of the river, that between 1971 and 1996, the Gangotri Glacier had retreated by about 850 m. This would yield a post-1971 retreat rate of 34 m a year. For the post-1971 period, the 61-year (1935-1996) data of GSI too shows that the retreat rate is about 28 m/year, indicating a clear increase in the rate after 1971. The 1996-1999 data of Naithani and associates too matches this general trend of an increased rate.

http://www.panda.org/downloads/climate_change/himalayaglaciersreport2005.pdf

[hatrack]

3. Yes, do you have any specific citations to offer us?

I didn't think so . . .

[Mnemosyne]

4. Welcome to DU German!

Here at DU you need to have something to back up statements like this. See if you can remember where you read this and post, it'd be a help. Thanks.
:hi:

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Oh well, he didn't last long

was he disrupting on this subject too? Or just mistaken on what was claimed? We'll never know.

[Mnemosyne]

10. I wondered, but wanted to be fair.

Is that what the tombstone means? The admins pegged him almost before he posted!

[DrRang]

5. There WAS cooling in the 1940s-1970s

What happened was that in the earlier 20th century, industrial pollution was growing so fast that particulate matter in the atmosphere blocked enough sunlight to lower temperatures very slightly. The press over-reacted, as usual, and there were lots of articles about "The Coming Ice Age," though I don't offhand remember anything about the Himalayas specifically. Then, when the U.S. and Europe passed stringent clean air legislation about 1970, particulate pollution dropped quickly, and the long term warming trend was no longer masked by the pollution-caused 1940-1970 cooling.

[NickofTime]

6. End-of-World?

Overdue for Mass Extinction Anyway

[blindpig]

7. trying to tell us something, hatrack?

water, water, water. Lots of "bad water" threads. Is this a trend? Should we be concerned? If it's not on tv can it be so important?

About the only question I have left is "Are the elite of this planet stupid or evil?" Not sure if I really want to know or if it matters in the end.

Thanks again for your continuing contribution, you are the stuff!

[hatrack]

8. De nada!

Glad y'all enjoy this. I think I've figured out why I like posting these kinds of articles - it gives me the illusion of being in control. :shrug: Go figure!

[NickofTime]

11. Past Climate Changes Destroyed a River in the Indian Subcontinent

In a bold reconstruction of holocene chronology, Dr. BP Radhakrishna indicates that circa 7000 BC was a wet spell with the break up of the Himalayan glaciers, the release of Sapta-Sindhu, the mighty Himalayan rivers and the emergence of Sarasvati as a major river of NW India; that circa 6000 BC saw the Sarasvati and its tributaries flowing full majestic splendour with village communities settling on banks of rivers; that circa 5000 BC was a wet climate with abundant water highlighting the flowering of the Vedic civilization (6000-4000 BC) along lakes with high water levels; that circa 3000 BC saw the drying up of river Sarasvati (Ghaggar-Hakra-Nara-Wahind) while the Indus Valley Civilization emerged (3100-1900 B C) with expansion of agriculture and urbanisation, tectonic disturbance resulting in the capture of upper waters of Sarasvati by Yamuna and westward migration of Sutlej; that circa 2000 BC saw increasing aridity, the spread of settlements to U.P, Bihar (Kuru, Pancala, Magadha) and South (Konkan).