The HKH Snow Update 2025 highlights a significant decline in seasonal snow across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, with snow persistence 23.6% below normal — the lowest in 23 years. This trend, now in its third consecutive year, threatens water security for nearly two billion people. All twelve major river …
so far climate change study models have ignored how carbon emissions contributed to the melting of glaciers. This was not part of climate study models since reliable data on soot emissions was absent. There was, however, evidence for the glacial melt in the Arctic due to the black carbon emissions …
In the middle and greater Himalaya, natural springs are the main source of domestic water consumption, but their discharge does not remain constant with time. Erratic rainfall directly affects the recharging of the spring catchment. In this communication, the behaviour of a perennial spring with rainfall variation is analysed from …
Atmospheric scientist V Ramanathan fromthe Scripps Research Institute, California, USA, says brown clouds heat up the lower atmosphere. He explains to Archita Bhatta how the media misinterpreted their findings What's the study about? It shows the atmospheric brown clouds (ABC) enhanced solar heating of the lower atmosphere by about 50 …
A study was conducted to estimate the rate of solid and dissolved mass denudation from six prominent landuse systems of Bhetagad micro watershed, Gomti basin of Indian Central Himalaya. An investigation was also conducted to assess the seasonal variation in water quality parameters influenced by rainwater in the four sub-catchments …
a study claims the maximum temperature over the northwestern Himalayas is increasing at a much faster rate than the minimum temperature. Another study claims it is just the opposite for most of the northern hemisphere, where the minimum temperature is rising faster than the maximum temperature. Change in temperature affects …
global warming is for real, say researchers at Ohio State University, usa. They have presented startling evidence of global warming affecting the tropics at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Lonnie Thompson, along with his team, has been carrying out research on glaciers and …
people from Uttaranchal's Rudraprayag district have revived 16 drying springs in their valleys with innovative research. Using the isoptope technique (see box: Nature's mystery), they tracked the origin and natural recharge zones of the streams, and accordingly, built rainwater harvesting structures to augment the discharge of springs and raise the …
The Himalayas possess one of the largest resources of snow and ice, which act as a huge freshwater reservoir. Monitoring the glaciers is important to assess the overall reservoir health. In this investigation, glacial retreat was estimated for 466 glaciers in Chenab, Parbati and Baspa basins from 1962.
The shrine of Amarnath in Jammu and Kashmir hit the headlines for a strange reason this summer. The shiva ling, a naturally-formed ice stalagmite in the Amarnath cave, melted. Public attention was suddenly called to global warming. Himalayan glaciers cover an area of about 23,000 sq km in India
From atop the 13,600-ft high windswept crest of a steep, serrated ridge, the Samudra Tapu glacier is a giant blanket of ice and snow, covering the bowl-shaped valley between jagged Himalayan peaks in the wilderness of Himachal Pradesh. Gleaming against an azure sky, the gigantic glacier-the second biggest in the …
Entire Himalayan region is vulnerable to rain-induced (torrential rainfall) hazards in the form of flash flood, cloudburst or glacial lake outburst flood. Flash floods and cloudburst are generally caused by high intensity rainfall followed by debris flow or landslide often resulting into blockade of river channels. The examples of some …
The Himalayan region has been recognised as a biodiversity hotspot, harbouring ecosystems more diverse than even the Amazon. But a recent study, led by M K Pandit of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Mountain & Hill Environment, Delhi University, sounds a warning. It claims forests in the Himalaya are …
The Sikkim government has decided to recruit villagers as honorary mountain guardians or Himal Rakshaks. The decision has already been notified in the state gazette, which says that only villagers with high concern for wildlife conservation and "clean personal records residing in high altitude regions will be recruited for the …
earth's high-altitude glaciers in the tropical regions are in trouble. They might disappear soon, according to the first-ever comparison of climate records between the Himalayan and the Andean glaciers by a team of scientists from four universities in the us . The scientists analysed ice cores and concluded that glacial …
Every year in from April to July, over one lakh visitors trek 20 km along the Ganga to reach at 14,000 feet above sea level, the Gomukh glacier, the source of one of India's mightiest rivers. Against the backdrop of snow-capped peaks, Gomukh has offered both spiritual and visual sustenance …
G. B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development was established in August 1988, at Kosi-Katarmal, Almora, as an autonomous institute of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. The Institute is identified as a focal agency, to advance scientific knowledge, to evolve integrated management strategies, demonstrate their …
The 20th century had been the wettest in the high mountains of northern Pakistan in the last millennium, according to a team of Swiss and German scientists. In a study, published in the April 27 issue of Nature (Vol 440, No 7088), they reported that the Karakoram and Himalayan mountains …
