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, …
greenland's southern glaciers are rapidly thinning and their lower elevations may be particularly sensitive to potential climate changes, suggests a nasa study. The results of this study are important as they could represent the first indication of an increase in the speed of outlet glaciers, said Bill Krabill, principle investigator …
Volcanoes triggered the deep freeze that has covered polar regions with ice for millions of years, say US geologists. For years, researchers have debated the causes of the latest series of ice ages, which began roughly 2.6 million years ago. Among the prime suspects were periodic changes in the tilt …
Glaciologists are arguing on the speed at which the Himalayan glaciers are reteating. Doubts have been raised on the IPCC Report. Read this report on Himalayan glaciology by Syed Hasnain which is leading to the controversy. Glacier research conducted during the last quarter of 20th century in the Himalaya Karakoram …
THE Alaska glacier is also facing the brunt of enviornment degradation. Till not very long ago, it was common for the ships to go right upto the glacier's 61 metre-high front wall. This is no longer possible today. The front has retreated by more than 12 kilometres in the last …
Scientists may soon explain the mys-terious behaviour of some icebergs. They have discovered a submerged "ice foot" extending more than 50 metres (m) out to sea from the wall of a glacier. This could explain why icebergs sometimes suddenly come up to the ocean surface in unexpec-ted places. Researchers suspect …
to put a brake on vanishing Himalayan glaciers and shrinking snow cover, a 'Society of Indian Glaciologists' was recently proposed by eminent environmental scientists and glaciologists all over the country. The proposal was made at a two-day national symposium on 'Himalayan glaciers and snow cover' in New Delhi in early …
To study the role of snow and ice in the global watercycle and in the world climatic system, research methods should be further standardized and inform from different region integrated. Representing these field of research, the International Commission on Snow and Ice (ICSI) has already made some guideline studies on …
THE best clues to the ongoing global warming debate can be had from the world's glaciers. Ice is melting at a much faster rate in the Alpine region since the '80s causing concern for nations like Austria, Switzerland, and France. Estimates state that one-third to one-half of the ice cover …
A RECENT find of fossils may help geologists break through the ice obscuring Antarctica's past. David Harwood of the University of Nebraska and his colleagues have collected fossils of marine molluscs, microscopic organisms and leaves and twigs, all from the Eocene period of 35 to 55 million years ago (Science, …
THE SPITI area of Himachal Pradesh is a cold desert, but surprisingly, agriculture is its mainstay. Transforming Spiti's lunar-like terrain into an agrarian success story was made possible by an ingenious system devised centuries ago to tap distant glaciers for water. But short-sighted developmental policies, though well-intentioned, now threaten both …
THE RICH out of greed and the poor out of need have damaged the fragile ecology of the Himalayan region so extensively the eight districts in the Kumaon and Garhwal region are gripped by a water shortage and law and order is gravely endangered, with village pitted against village and …
Glaciers that feed the Indus River in Pakistan’s Karakoram mountains are melting faster than previously thought. Saleem Sheikh talks to the scientists behind the latest field research that contradicts earlier satellite studies showing glaciers are relatively stable.
