A new study suggests that the glaciers in the Himalayas are shrinking, with different regions shrinking much faster than others.
The uncertainty of science: A new study suggests that the glaciers in the Himalayas are shrinking, with different regions shrinking much faster than others.
This study both supplements and contrasts other work which suggested that the western Himalayan glaciers were not shrinking.
It is interesting that the article above does not give any specifics on the rate of shrinkage, other than to say it is getting faster in some areas. Instead, the focus of this work centers more on the discovery that India’s monsoon winds have a significant influence on glacier growth or retreat.
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The uncertainty of science: A new study suggests that the glaciers in the Himalayas are shrinking, with different regions shrinking much faster than others.
This study both supplements and contrasts other work which suggested that the western Himalayan glaciers were not shrinking.
It is interesting that the article above does not give any specifics on the rate of shrinkage, other than to say it is getting faster in some areas. Instead, the focus of this work centers more on the discovery that India’s monsoon winds have a significant influence on glacier growth or retreat.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
There are two key findings from the study:
1. Not only are the glaciers shrinking, they are shrinking rapidly. And as the author is quoted,
“Temperature rise is important.”
2. The contrasting with the previous study which showed glacier stability in one range, is due to the uncertainty of using GRACE satellites, which the study showing glacier stability used. This current study looked at the entire region (7100 glaciers), rather than one area.
And, as author Yao Tandong says,”… the GRACE satellites can only feel the gravitational pull and can’t tell the difference between ice and liquid water, they may have mistaken expanding glacial lakes for increases in glacier mass,”
And John Wahr, lead author of the GRACE study says, the criticism is valid.
By the way, the study itself provides the rate and amount of shrinkage.
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate1580.html
The one quote of note is this:
“…(the Himalayas) shows the most extreme glacial shrinkage based on the reduction both of glacier length and area. The shrinkage is most pronounced in the southeastern TBP (region I), where the length decreased at a rate of 48.2 m yr.”
And “The smallest rate of glacier contraction is observed in the eastern Pamir regions (region V), with a retreat rate of 0.9 m yr.”
Other rates falling in between are listed as well.
And in regard to its general findings, here is the quote:
“IN ADDITION TO RISING TEMPERATURE, decreased precipitation in the Himalayas and increasing precipitation in the eastern Pamir accompanied by different atmospheric circulation patterns is probably driving these systematic differences.”