Retreating Himalayan glaciers can become hazardous but such dangers are not being monitored, experts say.
A second glacier on the same mountain collapsed unexpectedly just a few months later.A recent study of some high mountains of Asia - including the western Himalayas, the eastern part of the Pamir, Karakoram and south of the Hindu Kush mountain range - linked the number of larger landslides and their increased frequency between 1999 and 2018 to the retreat of glaciers.
Dalia Kirschbaum, a landslide expert who heads Nasa's hydrological science lab, said dangers associated with retreating glaciers were becoming evident. Cryosphere is the part of the planet that has water in a frozen state such as mountain glaciers, continental ice sheets, snow and ice covered areas, and sea ice.Of the limited studies on Himalayan glaciers to date, most are focused on their accelerated melting and whether that will dangerously fill up glacial lakes, causing them to burst.
"It is something that has received less attention," said Summer Rupper, professor of geography at the University of Utah, who has studied changes in Himalayan glaciers, including with the help of spy satellite images. "As these floods can affect people without warning far from the glacier themselves, it makes this particular hazard very dangerous," said Miriam Jackson, programme co-ordinator with the centre's cryosphere initiative.India's own government agencies have been criticised for not paying adequate attention to the threat.
Its goal states it should look at "the development and adoption of new methods for assessing the health of the Himalayan ecosystem including those of glaciers and create a database of the same".
Belgique Dernières Nouvelles, Belgique Actualités
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