Receding waters of Himalayas Glaciers

Impact on Climate on  Himalayas

The Himalayas have a profound effect on the climate of the Indian subcontinent and the Tibetan plateau. It prevents frigid, dry Arctic winds from blowing south into the subcontinent, which keeps South Asia much warmer than corresponding temperate regions in the other continents. It also forms a barrier for the monsoon winds, keeping them from traveling northwards, and causing heavy rainfall in the Terai region. The Himalayas are also believed to play an important part in the formation of Central Asian deserts such as the Taklamakan and Gobi deserts.

The mountain ranges also prevent western winter disturbances from Iran from traveling further, resulting in snow in Kashmir and rainfall for parts of Punjab and northern India. Despite being a barrier to the cold northerly winter winds, the Brahmaputra valley receives part of the frigid winds, thus lowering the temperature in the northeast Indian states and Bangladesh. These winds also cause the North East monsoon during this season for these parts.

The weather phenomenon called Jet Stream affects our image of the highest peaks on earth. The strong stream of winds from the west, passes through Everest, creating a familiar plume of snow blowing from the summit that is visible from a great distance.

 The false-color image above shows the Gangotri Glacier, situated in the Uttarkashi District of Garhwal Himalaya. Currently 30.2 km long and between 0.5 and 2.5 km wide, Gangotri glacier is one of the largest in the Himalaya. Gangotri has been receding since 1780, although studies show its retreat quickened after 1971. (Please note that the blue contour lines drawn here to show the recession of the glacier’s terminus over time are approximate.) Over the last 25 years, Gangotri glacier has retreated more than 850 meters, with a recession of 76 meters from 1996 to 1999 alone.

Details from a panorama of the West Rongbuk Glacier and Mount Everest, from a 1921 photo (left) by Major E.O. Wheeler and from a 2008 photo (right) by David Breashears. The glacier, located at an elevation of 17,300 to 24,400 feet, has experienced an average vertical loss of 340 feet in the past century. (Wheeler photo courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.) (Major E.O. Wheeler/David Breashears)

The Main Rongbuk Glacier and the north face of Mount Everest, as photographed from Tibet in 1921 (left) by George L. Mallory and in 2007 (right) by David Breashears. Situated at an elevation of 16,600 to 21,200 feet, the glacier experienced an average vertical loss of 330 feet between 1921 and 2007. Mallory and his climbing partner, Andrew Irvine, disappeared high on the northern slopes of Everest in 1924 during an attempt to be the first to summit the mountain. (Mallory photo courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.) (George L. Mallory/David Breashears)

Perched at around 17,000 feet in Tibet, Breashears holds Mallory’s 1921 photograph, with the remnant section of the Main Rongbuk Glacier and the north face of Mount Everest in the background. (David Breashears)

The Jannu Glacier, in Nepal, as photographed in 1899 (left) by Italian mountaineer Vittorio Sella and in 2009 (right) by David Breashears. In 110 years, the glacier, located below 25,295-foot Mount Jannu in the Kangchenjunga region, has virtually disappeared. Sella (1859-1943) took part in many leading mountaineering expeditions and is considered one of history’s greatest mountain photographers. (Sella photo courtesy of Sella Foundation.) (Vittorio Sella/David Breashears)

 The Kyetrak Glacier, located on the northern slope of 26,906-foot Cho Oyu in Tibet, as photographed in 1921 (top) by Major E.O. Wheeler and in 2009 (bottom) by David Breashears. In the past 90 years, the glacier has retreated and melted so extensively that a lake has formed where once there was ice and snow. (Wheeler photo courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.) (Major E.O. Wheeler/David Breashears)

GlacierWorks(www.glacierworks.org Follow us on Twitter  on Facebook ) is a non-profit organization that uses art, science, and adventure to raise public awareness about the consequences of climate change in the Greater Himalaya. By comparing our modern high-resolution imagery with archival photographs taken over the past century, we seek to highlight glacial loss and the potential for a greatly diminished water supply throughout Asia. Founded in 2007 by mountaineer, photographer and filmmaker David Breashears, the GlacierWorks team has made ten expeditions to the Greater Himalaya. Retracing the steps of pioneering alpine photographers and explorers George Mallory and Vittorio Sella, among others, the team has captured new images that precisely match the earliest photographic records. Over the past four years, they have recorded losses and changes to glaciers that are inaccessible to all but the most skilled climbers.

David Breashears is a mountaineer, photographer, and filmmaker who has reached the summit of Mount Everest five times. He is executive director of the Glacier Research Imaging Project, a joint undertaking with the Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations that compares contemporary photographs of glaciers in the Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau with photos taken over the last 110 years. (David Breashears)

The Himalayan range contains high altitude glaciers that supply water to many rivers in Asia. These rivers provide water to more than half of the world’s population. Many people in Asia are dependent on glacial melt water during dry season. Accelerated glacial melt questions the very perennial nature of many of the Himalayan flowing rivers. This is likely to have huge implications on those dependent on the resource affecting water availability for agricultural purposes. In Nepal and Bhutan, melting glaciers are filling glacial lakes beyond their capacities contributing to Galcial Lake Outburst Floods