Himalayan glaciers are slowly turning into lakes. It was in the 1950s that Erwin Schneider and Fritz Muller braved the extreme hazards of a Himalayan winter to map and measure the Imja glacier, a major glacier that has been there for thousands of years.
Half a century has passed when the famous mountain geographer Alton Byers reached the very same breath taking location. But the photographs he took of the region and exhibited at Bonn, Germany tells us a different story, shocking in its implications. The famous glacier has all but disappeared and a lake stands in its stead. Small glaciers at the lower reaches have vanished altogether and only half of the larger glaciers remain.
Now most of the awesome glacier has become a lake and keep on declining at an alarming rate. Sadly the same trend is repeated all around the globe, in the Alps, Greenland and the poles.
Nepal, home for most of the Himalayas is getting increasingly warmer as a result. At certain points the banks of the lake is vulnerable. If any of these points is breached the toll of destruction it will exact will be cataclysmic.
Poor Imja Glacier! Can we turn ironic and call it the Imja Lake?
Showing posts with label Himalayas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Himalayas. Show all posts
Monday, June 8, 2009
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Cry My Beloved Glaciers
Cry My Beloved Glaciers.
As everyone knows, the Ilulissat Glacier of Greenland is supposed to be the most dynamic of all glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere. Nearly a tenth of all icebergs found in and around Greenland is produced by the Ilulissat. And it is very tragic to hear that this great glacier is melting fast. The greed and grasping nature of certain unscrupulous industrialists from around the world are directly responsible for the global warming and the resultant melting of the beloved Ilulissat. Won’t the politicians in control heed the warnings of those who are really in the know and act quickly to save this blue planet from dying?
On the heels of the Ilulissat disaster, it appears that Himalayan glaciers are melting too. The Press Trust of India reports that ‘Glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster than in any other part of the world. With the poor earth warming at the present date, by the year 2035, the mighty Himalayas will be just a piece of massive rock, barren and dead. Those Indian politicians who cry wolf against ‘nuclear reactors and cry louder to close down all coal burning generators as soon as enough nukes are built. Oh, everybody knows nukes are no answer, but they are the lesser evil and can bring down the carbon emissions to a considerable extent.
As everyone knows, the Ilulissat Glacier of Greenland is supposed to be the most dynamic of all glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere. Nearly a tenth of all icebergs found in and around Greenland is produced by the Ilulissat. And it is very tragic to hear that this great glacier is melting fast. The greed and grasping nature of certain unscrupulous industrialists from around the world are directly responsible for the global warming and the resultant melting of the beloved Ilulissat. Won’t the politicians in control heed the warnings of those who are really in the know and act quickly to save this blue planet from dying?
On the heels of the Ilulissat disaster, it appears that Himalayan glaciers are melting too. The Press Trust of India reports that ‘Glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster than in any other part of the world. With the poor earth warming at the present date, by the year 2035, the mighty Himalayas will be just a piece of massive rock, barren and dead. Those Indian politicians who cry wolf against ‘nuclear reactors and cry louder to close down all coal burning generators as soon as enough nukes are built. Oh, everybody knows nukes are no answer, but they are the lesser evil and can bring down the carbon emissions to a considerable extent.
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