Scientists warn against melting glaciers in Kashmir

Scientists warn against melting glaciers in Kashmir

The glaciers in occupied Kashmir are melting by more than half a meter every year, but its long-term impact remains unknown in the absence of water data from downstream rivers, European scientists have warned.

Norwegian scientist Andreas Kaab at the University of Oslo in a media interview said: “In most of the satellite images that we used to support our study, the glaciers in J&K look really bad with not much snow accumulation area left.”

Andreas Kaab and his French colleagues used satellite data to study glaciers in the HKKH region, in the wake of many conflicting reports on present conditions and future of the Himalayan glaciers.

They said that glaciers in Jammu and Kashmir were receding by 0.66 meter every year. “It is hard to tell how much water surplus is right now in downstream rivers as we lack sufficient discharge measurements. I expect a considerable effect of Jammu and Kashmir
glacier melt on river discharge, but cannot quantify it,” he said.

The situation is not so bad in other parts of Himalayas. Except for Karakoram, glaciers in the HKKH region melt at a rate similar to glacier melting rates elsewhere, they added.

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Posted by Ahmad Mehdi on Aug 23 2012. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry