Climate change is causing Himalayan glaciers to melt twice as fast, research shows
- Study by US scientists says changes to seasonal run-offs pose growing threat to water supplies for 800 million people
- Claims based on 44 years of satellite images showing retreat of 650 glaciers across China, India, Nepal and Bhutan
The rate at which Himalayan glaciers are melting because of climate change has doubled over the past two decades, creating a huge threat to the hundreds of millions of people who rely on the run-off from them for their water supply, according to a new study by American scientists.
The claims were made by academics from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the University of Utah in the United States based on their assessment of satellite images taken across China, India, Nepal and Bhutan over the past 44 years.
The scientists looked at images – including declassified ones taken by US spy satellites – of about 650 glaciers spanning 2,000km (1,250 miles).
They showed that between 1975 and 2000, the glaciers lost an average of about 25cm (10 inches) of ice per year. But since 2000 that rate has accelerated to about 50cm a year.
The study, which is published this week in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances, concludes that while several factors, including changes in precipitation levels and soot from the increased consumption of fossil fuels, have contributed to the acceleration, the overriding cause of the faster melting is climate change.