Himalayan Glaciers Lost 10 Times Ice In the Last Few Decades, Exceptional Melting Rate A Threat to Asian Water Supply

In a recent study, experts reconstructed the reach of over 14,000 Himalayan glaciers during the Little Ice Age - a period that spanned from the early 14th century to the mid-19th century. The team found that glaciers in the region began losing ice 10 times faster during the modern era. The spectacular Himalayan mountain range is home to roughly the third-largest glacier ice concentration. According to locals, they observe changes in the glacial ice beyond anything the people have witnessed for centuries.

Exceptional Rate of Glacial Ice Decline in the Himalayan Mountain Range

A recent study published in the journal Scientific Reports, titled "Accelerated mass loss of Himalayan glaciers since the Little Ice Age," warns that the famed Himalayan glaciers are melting at such an exceptional rate that it's threatening the water supply of hundreds of millions of Asians.

A team of researchers found that the glaciers have lost 10 times more ice over the last few decades than the average ice loss since the Little Ice Age hundreds of years ago.

The Little Ice Age era was a period where major mountain-glacier expansion occurred, spanning from the 14th century all the way to the mid-19th century when rivers began to freeze over and crops were decimated.

In addition, researchers found that the Himalayan glaciers were shrinking more rapidly than the other glaciers in different parts of the world, contributing to the rising sea levels.

The accelerated melting of Himalayan glaciers has significant implications for hundreds of millions of people who depend on Asia's major rivers for both food and energy-including the Brahmaputra, Indus, and the Ganges. The Himalayan mountain range, according to NASA, is also known as "the Third Pole" is home to the third-largest amount of glacial ice after the Arctic and Antarctica.

Exceptional Rate of Himalayan Glacial Retreat Quantified

Dr. Simon Cook, the author of the study and a lecturer in geography and environmental sciences from the University of Dundee, explains that people residing in the Himalayan region are already seeing the rapid changes beyond anything they have witnessed centuries reports DailyMail.

He adds that the recent research confirms that those changes are accelerating and will have major implications on entire nations and regions.

For the study, researchers reconstructed the size and ice surface of over 14,798 Himalayan glaciers during the Little Ice Age Period. Using satellite images and digital elevation models, the team produces outlines of glaciers extending from 400-700 years in the past. Satellite imaging revealed that ridges mark the former glacier boundaries as they were during the Little Ice Age.

The team then used the geometry of the ridges to estimate the former extent of glaciers and ice surface elevation. When comparing the reconstruction to what glaciers look like now, there were able to determine the volume, which revealed the mass loss from the Litte Ice Age and now.

Researchers calculated that the Himalayan glaciers lost roughly 40% of their area-shrinking from a peak of about 10,800 square miles to only 7,560 miles today.

Check out more news and information on Climate Change in Science Times.