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Mass loss on Himalayan glacier endangers water resources
Author(s) -
Kehrwald Natalie M.,
Thompson Lonnie G.,
Tandong Yao,
MosleyThompson Ellen,
Schotterer Ulrich,
Alfimov Vasily,
Beer Jürg,
Eikenberg Jost,
Davis Mary E.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2008gl035556
Subject(s) - glacier , geology , glacier mass balance , glacier ice accumulation , physical geography , ice caps , glacier morphology , ice core , hydrology (agriculture) , cryosphere , climatology , ice stream , geomorphology , geography , sea ice , geotechnical engineering
Ice cores drilled from glaciers around the world generally contain horizons with elevated levels of beta radioactivity including 36 Cl and 3 H associated with atmospheric thermonuclear bomb testing in the 1950s and 1960s. Ice cores collected in 2006 from Naimona'nyi Glacier in the Himalaya (Tibet) lack these distinctive marker horizons suggesting no net accumulation of mass (ice) since at least 1950. Naimona'nyi is the highest glacier (6050 masl) documented to be losing mass annually suggesting the possibility of similar mass loss on other high‐elevation glaciers in low and mid‐latitudes under a warmer Earth scenario. If climatic conditions dominating the mass balance of Naimona'nyi extend to other glaciers in the region, the implications for water resources could be serious as these glaciers feed the headwaters of the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra Rivers that sustain one of the world's most populous regions.