Thaindian News

Washington, December 15 (ANI): A new research by scientists from NASA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has determined that black soot deposited on Tibetan glaciers in the Himalayas is threatening the Tibetan Plateau, which is called the Earth’s ‘Third Pole’.

Soot absorbs incoming solar radiation and can speed glacial melting when deposited on snow in sufficient quantities.

New field research and ongoing quantitative modeling suggests that soot’s warming influence on Tibetan glaciers could rival that of greenhouse gases.

Temperatures on the Tibetan Plateau have warmed by 0.3 degree Celsius per decade over the past 30 years, about twice the rate of observed global temperature increases.

“Tibet’s glaciers are retreating at an alarming rate,” said James Hansen, coauthor of the study and director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City.

“Black soot is probably responsible for as much as half of the glacial melt, and greenhouse gases are responsible for the rest,” he added.

“During the last 20 years, the black soot concentration has increased two- to three-fold relative to its concentration in 1975,” said Junji Cao, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and a coauthor of the research paper.

“Fifty percent of the glaciers were retreating from 1950 to 1980 in the Tibetan region; that rose to 95 percent in the early 21st century,” said Tandong Yao, director of the Chinese Academy’s Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research.

Some glaciers are retreating so quickly that they could disappear by mid-century if current trends continue, the researchers suggest.

Since melt water from Tibetan glaciers replenishes many of Asia’s major rivers, including the Indus, Ganges, Yellow, and Brahmaputra, such losses could have a profound impact on the billion people who rely on the rivers for fresh water.

While rain and snow would still help replenish Asian rivers in the absence of glaciers, the change could hamper efforts to manage seasonal water resources by altering when fresh water supplies are available in areas already prone to water shortages.

“Reduced black soot emissions, in addition to reduced greenhouse gases, may be required to avoid demise of Himalayan glaciers and retain the benefits of glaciers for seasonal fresh water supplies,” Hansen said. (ANI)