Glaciers of the Himalaya Mountain Range are an enormous reservoir of fresh water and their meltwater is an important resource for much of
India,
Bangladesh,
Pakistan,
Nepal,
Bhutan,
China and
Burma. A team of Indian scientists lead by Anil V. Kulkarni of the Indian Space Research Organization, studied surface area coverage for nearly 500 glaciers in the Chenab, Parabati, and Baspa basins using satellite data collected between 1962 and 2001.
They documented that most of these glaciers have retreated significantly. In 1962 a total of 2077 square kilometers was covered by glaciers and in 2001 that area was reduced to 1628 square kilometers. This represents a deglaciation of over twenty percent over a forty year period.
Landsat image showing glaciers of the Himalaya Mountain Range (light blue) and the sediment-choked and braided valley of the Brahmaputra River (purple) of Eastern India. High Resolution Image - 862KBThey also learned the the number of glaciers actually increased in this area. The increase in count was caused by fragmentation. Climate change was blamed for the decrease in sustainability for these Himalayan glaciers.
Read their full article:
Glacial Retreat in Himalaya Using Indian Remote Sensing Satellite Data.
Labels: Glaciers, Global-Warming
