Himalayan Glaciers
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HHimalayanimalayan EEcologycology ISSN: 2277-9000 Vol. 12 (1), 2015 Understating the Dynamics of Himalayan Glaciers . Inside the issue ... Inside the issue ... Understating the Dynamics of Himalayan Glaciers Glaciers, the storehouse of frozen water..... Page 1 Glacier Mass changes Glaciers are dynamic..... Page 3 Winter Snow Albedo The Himalayan cryosphere is..... Page 4 Glacial Lakes and Outburst Floods (GLOFs) Glaciers, important sources of fresh..... Page 5 Recession Pattern and Precipitation Glaciers, the storehouse of frozen water, hold sustains stream flow in such rivers through dry Regime nearly 77% of the world’s fresh water resources season. These rivers have displayed significant and feed major rivers. In the absence of direct variations in stream flow, particularly the eastern The Himalayan range, known as water..... measurements, glaciers serve as proxy for Himalaya where seasonal flows and monsoon Page 6 climate as they store vital information about flows showed huge changes in the recent past. Runoff Process of Snow and Glacier the past climatic perturbations and atmospheric It is assumed that sea-surface temperature and composition assessed by different geological Fed River atmospheric circulation system cause these proxies (e.g. landforms and sediments). changes, however, the alterations in the timing Himalayan glaciers, the largest glacier system Isotope technique is important..... and rate of snowmelt are assumed to be a result outside the Polar regions, occupy highest Page 8 altitudes in the world and feed the perennial of changing temperature in the Himalayan region. In light of these changes, it is expected Climate Change Impacts on Glaciers rivers of north India, which sustains life and livelihood of millions of people. Himalayan that water resources of the Himalayan region The Himalaya is source of fresh...... glaciers form and modulate regional and global are likely to undergo significant alterations in Page 9 climate systems by affecting the land-ocean- future. Any change in the climatic conditions atmospheric circulation patterns. Monitoring, of the Himalayas has far reaching impact in the Himalayan Glaciers studying and understanding glaciers is, downstream areas. Research Programmes...... therefore, of vital importance for managing the Himalayan glaciers have been in a river flows and water resources, conserving the Page 10 state of general retreat since 1850s and recent biodiversity, weather forecasting and sustaining studies confirm that the rate of retreat of many Innovations/Discoveries in Science the life-livelihood-systems of the Himalayan glaciers is accelerating. The glaciers in the region terrain and the plains below. India and Worldwide...... are showing fluctuations in retreat rates during Page 11 The Himalayan range act as a natural the last century, possibly due to the mixed barrier on the earth and play an important role influence of variable topography, temperature Books on Himalayan Glaciers..... in maintaining and controlling the monsoon and snowfall regime. Surging, retreating and fast melting of glaciers in these high mountains Forthcoming Events..... system of Asia mainly because of the interaction expose terminal moraines and create glacial Page 12 of polar, tropical and mediterranean influences. The major glacier-fed Himalayan rivers along lakes at the terminus of end moraines. with glaciated catchments have regional Rapid accumulation of water in glacial lakes importance as the water from glacier melt particularly those adjacent to receding valley 1 ENVIS Newsletter on Himalayan Ecology Vol. 12(1), 2015 ENVIS Centre on Himalayan Ecology Editors’ Note Dear Readers, A Quarterly Publication Vol. 12(1), 2015 Glaciers make an extremely important eternal source of fresh water to the Subsistence in the Indian Himalaya..... The “ENVIS Centre on Himalayan Ecology” is at mountain people as well as those live downstream. Roughly 500 million people depend G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and on the melt water from these glaciers for various consumptive and non-consumptive Development (GBPIHED), Kosi-Katarmal, Almora, uses of water that flows in the rivers originating from these glaciers. Indian Himalayan Uttarakhand, which is an autonomous Institute 3 of Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate region (IHR) harbours ~ 9,575 glaciers with an estimated ice volume of ~ 2000 km . Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India, New In the wake of Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Delhi. Assessment Report (AR4), and the controversy about rapid melting of Himalayan glaciers has given rise to a renewed spurt of investigations on glaciers globally, particularly in the IHR. Coordinator ENVIS Further, this region has been identified as ‘data deficient’ by the IPCC. This can be illustrated P.P. Dhyani Director by the fact that the Hindu Kush Himalayan region has the largest glaciated areas in the world outside the Polar Regions, but mass balance studies have only been carried out for 10 or so Scientist-In-Charge ENVIS of the regions’ > 50,000 glaciers, and most data deals with terminus position of the glaciers. Subrat Sharma Therefore, concerted efforts are required to understand the snow and ice dynamics of these glaciers, particularly under the influence of changing climate. Realizing the importance of Executive Editor G.C.S. Negi the glaciers, Govt. of India has given special emphasis on the glaciers in the National Mission on Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem. We hope the selected articles presented in this Editorial Board NewsLetter will prove useful to the readers and invite their deep queries into this vital subject. Subrat Sharma Ranjan Joshi Editors Puneet Sirari The “ENVIS Centre on Himalayan Ecology” collects, collates, compiles and builds quantitative glaciers can lead to a sudden breaching of the technologies to understand their dynamics and qualitative database in the fields related unstable debris dam which shall ultimately and determine answers to the many concerns to the Himalayan Ecology. The information cause glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF) that confront the scientists, policy and decision is disseminated regulary via online as well as and is a matter of concern for economic and makers and above all the community that is hardcopies to several valuable stakeholders life losses in the river valleys. The fast retreat likely to be affected most. The Himalaya is a and various users such as DICs, universities, of Himalayan glaciers is not only decreasing highly complex system with linear and non- institutions along with other ENVIS Centre the channel discharge in long-term but linear interactions/ feedbacks between the running parallel to support overall Environmental may also cause flashfloods downstream and atmosphere, ocean, ice and biota and complex Information System for India. thus has direct bearing on socio-economic links to the tectonic processes originating deep ENVIS Staff implications for the population living in in the earth system. To understand such a Dinesh Giri valleys and downstream area. Therefore, complex system, a cross disciplinary approach Vipin Chandra Sharma proper understanding of the status and health embracing climate sciences, glaciology, Satish K. Sinha of these glaciers is very important for long- geophysics, paleo-climatology, remote sensing Arvind Kumar term planning in the area. and modeling needs to be adopted. Records from the high altitude This issue of the ENVIS News letter Guest Editor mountain meteorological observatories on Himalayan Ecology focuses of dynamics Rajesh Joshi over the last thirty years indicate accelerated of glaciers of Himalayan region and provides Scientist warming and decrease in seasonal snowfall in vital information on retreat pattern of glaciers, G B Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment the different rages of North West Himalaya. precipitation system controlling the glacier and Development, There is, hence, a convergence from global, region, mass balance and influence of climate Kosi-Katarmal, Almora 263 643 regional and sub-continental data indicating change, winter snow albedo and its impact (Uttarakhand) that the Indian land mass has been warming on cryosphere, glacial lakes and GLOFs, at an enhanced rate, particularly during the understating the snow and glacier melt runoff [email protected] last three decades. In the context of the global processes using isotopes and observed changes warming, the fear is that this temperature- in glaciers of Sikkim Himalaya. This issue precipitation change would reduce the snow highlights insights of many facets of glaciers cover, accelerate melting of glaciers, affect the of Himalayan region covering northwest to Disclaimer: The information furnished in this landscape and slope stability, the water cycle, Newsletter is based on the inputs received from northeast Himalayan region. authors/organizations; the Institute/editorial board sediment load in rivers, and natural hazards will not be responsible for any mistake, misprint or far beyond the historical and Holocene GUEST EDITOR factual error, if any. variability. This provides a compelling and The authors are solely responsible for the scientific urgent rationale to study the Himalayan Rajesh Joshi facts presented herein and the copyrights for any glaciers in all their facets using the latest reproduced/ quoted lines from other sources. All [email protected] rights reserved. 2 ENVIS Newsletter on Himalayan Ecology Vol. 12(1), 2015 GLACIER MASS CHANGES Subsistence in the Indian