Himalayan glaciers are melting at an exceptional rate because of global warming, threatening the water supply of millions of people in Asia, a study published on Monday said.
Glaciers in the Himalayas have lost ice 10 times more quickly in the past few decades than on average since the last major glacier expansion 400-700 years ago, a period known as the Little Ice Age, said the study published in Scientific Reports, a peer-reviewed journal of the Nature group of journals.
The study, led by researchers at the University of Leeds School of Geography in the UK, found that 14,798 Himalayan glaciers have lost around 40% of their area compared to the Little Ice Age.
“Our findings clearly show that ice is now being lost from Himalayan glaciers at a rate that is at least 10 times higher than the average rate over past centuries,” co-author Jonathan Carrivick of Leeds University said in a statement. “This acceleration in the rate of loss has only emerged within the last few decades, and coincides with human-induced climate change.”
Published in Scientific Reports, the research is based on a reconstruction of the size and ice surfaces of 14,798 Himalayan glaciers during the Little Ice Age and comparing them with current data observed through satellite images.
Scientific research on the retreat of Himalayan glaciers remains a contentious area after a group of Indian scientists who observed the glaciers on the ground disputed research studies that used satellite data to draw their conclusions.
One such report contradicting the glacier retreat claims was commissioned by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest and came out more than a decade ago.
