Every time I am in the Indian Himalayas and especially where there are glaciers its alarming to find how Glaciers are receding. Today, I read a report in a financial daily on how Mount Everest glaciers are receding. It was reported that recently, at a meeting of the Americas in Cancun, Mexico- a Scientific Conference organized by the American Geophysical Union, a studyt was presented which indicated that Mt Everest is losing cloak of ice and snow. Mt Everest glaciers are receding and have shrunk at an alarming rate of 13 per cent over the last 50 years due to global warming, the study says. This is true of the the glaciers in Indian Himalayas as well. I can certainly talk of the Dokriani Bamak Glacier in the Garahwal Himalayas of Uttarakhand. I was year in 2009 when I was pursuing my basic mountaineering course at t e Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM). Dokriaani Bamak glacier is where we are taken for our ice training.
I was shocked when I was told by one of my instructors that the glacier here was receding at the rate of 1.5-2m every year. I was told that the glaciers 25 years ago extended right up to where we had now set up the base camp. That was shocking as from the base camp to the glacier where we used to go for our Ice training was a neat 2.5 to 3 km walk on moraines. Similar is the case in Nepal. Local mountaineers experience says that the base camp of Everest used to be half an hour trek from the village but now, glaciers have shifted and moved and camp is now three hours away. These intrigued me to find out more.
According to the information I gathered from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology at Dehradun, Dokriani glacier is one of the well-developed, medium sized (7.0 km) valley glaciers of Gangotri group of glaciers in the Garhwal Himalaya. The glacier was originally mapped in 1962–63 and was remapped in 1995 by the Survey of India. The glacier shows rapid frontal recession, substantial thinning at the lower elevation and reduction of glacier area and volume.
Between 1962 and 1995, glacier volume is estimated to have been reduce by about 20% and frontal area had vacated by 10%. The study revealed that during the period 1962–1995 the glacier has receded by 550 m with an average rate of 16.6 m/yr. However, the yearly monitoring of snout position of the glacier during Gangotri glacier in Uttaranchal.
India’s glaciers are melting fast and the Inter governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the scientific body meant to study climate change, warned in 2007 that if steps were not taken to check this, there was a likelihood of water shortage in rivers (when needed) and flooding of coastal regions.
According to researchers at the Wadia Institute what was worrying is that the glaciers are losing density... largely due to global warming; the snow is melting faster than it can accumulate as ice, thereby thinning the glacier.
The Himalaya, the youngest and fragile mountain system of the earth, has direct influence on climate control, regional hydrology and environment of our subcontinent. About 17% of its mountain area is covered by glaciers. These glaciers are receding faster than those in other parts of the world
The Himalayan Glaciers and Ice Caps are considered water Tower of Asia since they store and supply water downstream during the dry season. Downstream population is dependent on the melt water for agricultural, drinking and power production. In the long run there is a possibility that the region will face severe drought problems. Farmlands could dry up, there could be lack of drinking water.
If this is the scenario in all probability it could also affect the downstream population economically.
