Himalayan glaciers melting at 'exceptional rate', says new study

Himalayan glaciers are melting at an accelerated pace, a new study concluded on Monday, gathering fresh evidence on the loss of ice mass in the Third Pole.

The study, led by scientists at the University of Leeds, reports that in recent decades the Himalayan glaciers have lost ice ten times more quickly over the last few decades since the last major glacier expansion 400-700 years ago, a period is known as the Little Ice Age.

They lost 40% of their Little Ice Age areas, which means the disappearance of 390-586 cubic km of ice. This is the equivalent of all the ice contained today in the central European Alps, the Caucasus, and Scandinavia combined. The rate of such loss is faster in the eastern Himalayas.

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The study also reveals that Himalayan glaciers are shrinking far more rapidly than glaciers in other parts of the world – a rate of loss the researchers describe as “exceptional”. If continued this might threaten the water supply for millions of people in India and Pakistan.

“Our findings clearly show that ice is now being lost from Himalayan glaciers at a rate that is at least ten times higher than the average rate over past centuries. This acceleration in the rate of loss has only emerged within the last few decades, and coincides with human-induced climate change,” Jonathan Carrivick, corresponding author and deputy head of the University of Leeds School of Geography, said in a statement.

Published in Scientific Reports, the research is based on a reconstruction of the size and ice surfaces of 14,798 Himalayan glaciers during the Little Ice Age and comparing them with current data observed through satellite images.

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The rivers of ice spreading over an area of 28,000 sq km in the Himalayan heights now occupy 19,600 sq km area – a 40% loss.

Scientific research on the retreat of Himalayan glaciers remains a contentious area after a group of Indian scientists who observed the glaciers on the ground disputed research studies that used satellite data to draw their conclusions.

One such report contradicting the glacier retreat claims was commissioned by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest and came out more than a decade ago.

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Authored by V K Raina, former deputy director-general of the Geological Survey of India, it concluded that while some of the Himalayan glaciers were indeed retreating, others like Siachen were advancing. In addition, there are other glaciers where the rate of retreat declined in recent years.

The Himalayan mountain range is home to the world’s third-largest amount of glacier ice, after Antarctica and the Arctic and is often referred to as ‘the Third Pole’.

The acceleration of melting of Himalayan glaciers has significant implications for hundreds of millions of people who depend on Asia’s major river systems for food and energy. These rivers include the Brahmaputra, Ganges and Indus.

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