For billions of people, mountain meltwater is essential for drinking water and sanitation, food and energy security, and the integrity of the environment. But today, as the world warms, glaciers are melting faster than ever, making the water cycle more unpredictable and extreme. And because of glacial retreat, floods, droughts, …
The Himalaya is the adobe of one of the world’s largest and mostly inaccessible area of glaciers outside the polar regions and provides glacier-stored water to the major Indian river basins. Various studies suggest that many of the Himalayan glaciers have receded in recent decades due to climate forcing. Temporal …
Sea levels could rise up to 5 feet by the end of this century, driven by warming in the Arctic and the resulting melt of snow and ice, according to this study by the International Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP). This is more than two and a half times …
Glaciers are in rapid decline and loss of these glaciers will have profoundly negative impacts on climate and human life, according to this published report by scientific working group commissioned by the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Science. The report gives the group’s consensus statement is a warning to humanity and …
The Himalayan glaciers are a valuable national and global resource – they possess the largest concentration of ice outside of the Polar Regions; regulate global climate; feed most of northern India’s perennial rivers; and are an important indicator of climate change. However, this source of water is not permanent, as …
The Himalayan glaciers are a valuable national and global resource – they possess the largest concentration of ice outside of the Polar Regions; regulate global climate; feed most of northern India’s perennial rivers; and are an important indicator of climate change. However, this source of water is not permanent, as …
This document details the Black Carbon Research Initiative launched by India as part of the National Carbonaceous Aerosols Programme (NCAP). This joint initiative of several government ministries & leading research institutions builds on the existing work and sets out the science programme to respond to the scientific questions surrounding Black …
Palynological studies have provided a good overview of the palaeovegetational and palaeoclimatic scenario of the Indian subcontinent. However, little has been explored in this regard from the glaciated sites of the Himalayan region. In recent years, some palynological data have been generated from a few glaciated sites of Western Himalaya …
Glacier thinning and retreat in the Himalayas has resulted in the formation of new glacial lakes and the enlargement of existing lakes due to the accumulation of meltwater behind loosely consolidated end moraine dams. Such lakes are inherently unstable and can be subject to catastrophic drainage (glacial lake outburst flood …
GLACIERS, reservoirs of fresh water on the earth, are assumed to be major indicators of climate change. Since their melting contributes to drinking water, water for agriculture and hydropower in densely populated regions in South and Central Asia, glaciers have become a major concern for these regions. Himalayan glaciers are …
NEW DELHI: The potential for enhancing collaborative polar research between India and Norway is immense. This was the message of the Indo-Norwegian meeting titled
This document summarizes findings and conclusions of the assessment report: Integrated Assessment of Black Carbon and Tropospheric Ozone. The assessment looks into all aspects of anthropogenic emissions of black carbon and tropospheric ozone precursors, such as methane. It analyses the trends in emissions of these substances and the drivers of …
AMIDST controversies over the melting of Himalayan glaciers, a study by a scientist from the Indian Institute o f S c i e n c e, B a n g a l o r e, claimed that nearly 10,000 glaciers in the Himalayan mountain system, spread across India, Pakistan, Nepal, …
Remote sensing plays an important role to discriminate and delineate snow and ice cover in a glacial terrain which are used to estimate the snow melt run-off and also assist in environmental studies. The study area, Manasarovar Lake and the surrounding Himalayan region is the major source of water for …
News of glaciers retreating in the high mountains of Asia has intensified concerns about impacts of climate change on the hydrological systems of central, south, and east Asia. The overall purpose of this review is to provide a summary of the scientific knowledge about glacier melt/retreat in the high mountains …