New Delhi: On Sunday, a massive avalanche in Raini near Chamoli, Joshimath, Uttarakhand, caused massive destruction in the nearby villages and surrounding areas. Many people drowned in the flood as the heavy flow of water swept away the houses located in the area. A study published in the journal Sciences Advances in June 2019 had stated that the Himalayan glaciers were losing ice the equivalent of more than a vertical foot and half of each year since 2000 which is double the amount from 1975 to 2000.
The study is based on the analysis which took place in the span 40 years through satellite observations across India, China, Nepal and Bhutan, researchers say that it indicates climate change eating the Himalayan glaciers. The melting glaciers have doubled in the 21st century especially over the last few decades, potentially threatening water supply for hundreds of millions of people in countries, including India, according to the study.
"This is the clearest picture yet of how fast Himalayan glaciers are melting over this time interval, and why," said Joshua Maurer, a PhD candidate at Columbia University in the US according to PTI report. The lead author of the study Maurer explained that the glaciers may have lost as much as a quarter of their enormous mass over the last four decades.
The researchers noted that Asian nations are burning ever-greater loads of fossil fuels and biomass, sending soot into the sky, adding much of it eventually lands on snowy glacier surfaces, where it absorbs solar energy and hastens melting. Though the researchers did add that the Himalayas are generally not melting as fast as the Alps, but the general progression is similar.
The PTI report quoted Joseph Shea, a glacial geographer at the University of Northern British Columbia in Canada, who was not involved in the study as saying that the study shows that "even glaciers in the highest mountains of the world are responding to global air temperature increases driven by the combustion of fossil fuels." He added, "in the long term, this will lead to changes in the timing and magnitude of streamflow in a heavily populated region."