{"id":36810,"date":"2025-02-04T19:14:07","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T13:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=36810"},"modified":"2025-08-07T16:04:42","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T10:34:42","slug":"retreating-himalayan-glaciers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/04-02-2025\/retreating-himalayan-glaciers","title":{"rendered":"Retreating Himalayan Glaciers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/Environment; Climate Change<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A recent study has revealed that the eastern Himalayas of Arunachal Pradesh have lost 110 glaciers over a span of 32 years (1988-2020) and highlights the rapid retreat of glaciers, which has significant implications for the region&#8217;s hydrology and climate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Findings of Study<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Glacial Lakes:<\/strong> The study found that the glaciers, covering an area of 309.85 square kilometers, retreated at a rate of 16.94 square kilometers per year.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It exposed bedrock and created glacial lakes, increasing the risk of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/13-11-2024\/expanding-himalayan-glacial-lakes\"><strong>Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs).<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The number of glaciers in the region decreased from 756 to 646 during the study period.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Causes of Glacial Retreat:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Rise in Temperature:<\/strong> The eastern Himalayas have been warming at a rate surpassing the global average, with temperature increases between 0.1\u00b0C and 0.8\u00b0C per decade.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It is expected to continue, with potential temperature rises of 5-6\u00b0C and precipitation increases of 20-30% by the end of the century.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Over the past century, the region has seen an increase in temperature by approximately 1.6\u00b0C, with the eastern Himalayas warming at a rate surpassing the global average.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Implications<\/strong>: For the region&#8217;s <strong>freshwater supply,<\/strong> which supports over 1.3 billion people living downstream.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <strong>Himalayan glaciers<\/strong>, often referred to as the \u2018<strong>Third Pole\u2019<\/strong> due to their vast ice reserves, play a crucial role in maintaining the <strong>region&#8217;s hydrological balance and the global sea level.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The retreat of glaciers also <strong>affects the region&#8217;s biodiversity and agricultural practices<\/strong>. Additionally, the reduced glacial mass can lead to changes in <strong>river flow patterns<\/strong>, affecting <strong>hydropower generation and irrigation systems<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Himalayan Glaciers in the India<\/strong><br>&#8211; These are <strong>broadly divided into three river basins<\/strong>, namely <strong>Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra<\/strong>.The higher altitudes <em>(temperate climates)<\/em> receive heavy snowfall during winters.<br><strong>Indus River<\/strong><br>&#8211; It originates in the <strong>Tibetan plateau near Lake Mansarovar and Mount Kailash<\/strong> and flows westward, south of <strong>Karakoram Range<\/strong> and north of the <strong>Great Himalayas to Mt. Naga Parbat<\/strong> where it turns sharply to the south flowing through Pakistan into the Arabian Sea near Karachi after travelling for 2,880 kilometres.<br><strong>Ganga River<\/strong><br>&#8211; It originates from the <strong>Gangotri Glacier<\/strong> where it is known as <strong>Bhagirathi <\/strong>which is <strong>joined by Alaknanda at Devprayag<\/strong> and combined together it is called Ganga.<br><strong>Brahmaputra River (Yalu Zangbu or Tsang Po)<\/strong><br>&#8211; It rises in the glacier of the <strong>Kailash range, just south of Lake Konggyu Tsho in Tibet.<\/strong><br>&#8211; It ranks <strong>amongst the longest rivers<\/strong> of the world. It traverses its first 1,625 kilometres in Tibet, 918 kilometres in India and the remaining 337 kilometres in Bangladesh before it <strong>drains into the Bay of Bengal.<\/strong><br><strong>Importance of Snow Fields &amp; Glaciers of the Himalaya<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>Earth\u2019s Radiation Balance:<\/strong> Albedo from snow.\u00a0<br>&#8211; <strong>Attracting SW Monsoon:<\/strong> The difference in temperature between the Himalayan snow-fields and glaciers and the Indian Ocean pulls the <strong>South-West monsoon<\/strong> towards the Indian landmass during summer.<br>&#8211; <strong>Key Indicator of Climate Change: <\/strong>Snow-fields and glaciers govern the climate system of the Indian land mass at regional and global scales.\u00a0<br>1. Sensitivity of snow-fields and glaciers to variations in temperature makes them a key indicator of climate change.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Addressing glacier retreat requires a multi-faceted approach, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, enhancing climate resilience, and implementing sustainable water management practices.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>International cooperation and local community involvement are essential to mitigate the impacts and adapt to the changing environment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/arunachal-pradesh\/arunachal-pradesh-lost-110-glaciers-in-32-years-study\/article69176258.ece\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Source: TH<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A recent study has revealed that the eastern Himalayas of Arunachal Pradesh have lost 110 glaciers over a span of 32 years (1988-2020) and highlights the rapid retreat of glaciers, which has significant implications for the region&#8217;s hydrology and climate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36810"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36811,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36810\/revisions\/36811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}