What are the benefits of our Himalayan glaciers in Jammu and Kashmir ? How does it play a major role in as Indicators of global warming
Answers
Explanation:
One of the major global warming related issue of 21 st century directly concerns to more than half a billion people across five countries sharing Hindu kush -Himalaya is the fast receding Himalayan glaciers which is threatening their agriculture and habitats. IPCC fourth assessment report published in 2007 has predicted that global mean temperature is expected to increase between 1.4 and 5.8 degree Celsius over the next hundred years. However, the recent studies by Ramanathan et al (2007) published in nature issue of 2 nd August have found that Atmospheric Brown Clouds (ABC) on Indian Ocean and south Asia is contributing as much as the recent increase by humans and their green house gases. The total warming on southern flank of Hindu Kush-Himalaya is already around 1.2 degree Celsius which is perhaps the main cause of accelerated recession in Himalayan glaciers. Snow cover dynamics varies from western to eastern Himalaya and determine the hydrological regimes of the rivers. In western Himalaya, the monsoon rainfall component is less as compared to snowmelt component. Therefore, deglaciation has a profound impact on the water resources of the western Himalayan rivers. However, in central and eastern Himalaya the seasonal snow cover melt peaks by last week of June, whereas monsoon rains between July and mid-September sustain the flows in the rivers. Hence, a time series of snow-cover extent in Himalaya and discharge patterns are important component for evaluating the future of snow and glacier resources in Himalaya. Database of snowfall distribution, river flows and climate parameters are not available since independence as no system was in place for collecting such basic information. Basic data on climate variables and stream and river flows usually collected by the state or local authorities all over the world and made available to universities and researchers for analysis. Unfortunately, this culture was not established in India as the state and central level organization dealing in water, climate and environment are headed by the babu's of Indian administrative service: a class not aware about the importance of time series. The direct implication of green house gas emission and resultant global warming on the glacier environment is melting. Moreover, deglaciation has far reaching implications on both biological and ecological systems. There are different reasons for ice melting. Its repercussions are also different, depending on regional and climatic variables. Flood, sea level rise, fresh water scarcity, threat to fauna and flora are major security implications of deglaciation. The Himalayan glaciers feed seven of the great rivers of Asia (the Ganga, Indus, Brahmaputra, Salween,Mekong, Yangtze and Huang Hu) and ensure a year-round water supply to one billion people.In today's times, the rivers have shown 3-4 % surplus Water due to 10 % increase in the melting of the glaciers of the western Himalaya, and the 30 % increase in the eastern Himalayan glaciers. Many glacier lakes dammed by moraines have been created on a glacier terminus in the eastern and central Himalaya where they are nourished by S W monsoon. As a consequence of global and regional warming by ABC, Moraines were formed during the latest neo-glaciation period which happened between 16 th and 19 th century and are not yet consolidated. Since the moraine is remarkably unstable, a moraine dam is easily destroyed by some disturbance. This abrupt release of lake water generates heavy and sudden floods which cause serious damage, along the river channel downstream. This phenomena is called a glacier lake outburst floods (GLOF). Therefore, an inventory of wetlands across Indian Himalaya should be taken on priority basis and potentially dangerous lakes be identified.