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| Nepal's
Glaciers: Reports |
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Nepal
Glaciers: Global Warming - Himalayan Mountain Lakes at high risk of bursting
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Himalayan
Mountain Lakes at high risk of bursting their banks with devastating consequences
for people and property.
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<< Tsho
Rolpa, Rolwaling Valley (1996)
Nearly
50 lakes, high in the Himalayas, could burst their banks sending millions
of gallons of deadly floodwaters swirling down valleys, putting at risk
tens of thousands of lives scientists are warning.
The
lakes are rapidly filling with icy water as rising temperatures in the
region accelerate the melting of glaciers and snowfields that feed them.
In
Nepal, for example, data from 49 monitoring stations reveals a clear increase
in temperature since the mid-1970s with highest temperatures found at higher
altitudes. |
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<< Tsho
Rolpa, Rolwaling Valley (1996)
Nearly
50 lakes, high in the Himalayas, could burst their banks sending millions
of gallons of deadly floodwaters swirling down valleys, putting at risk
tens of thousands of lives scientists are warning.
The
lakes are rapidly filling with icy water as rising temperatures in the
region accelerate the melting of glaciers and snowfields that feed them.
In
Nepal, for example, data from 49 monitoring stations reveals a clear increase
in temperature since the mid-1970s with highest temperatures found at higher
altitudes. |
|
On
average, air temperatures here are one degree C higher than in the 1970s
rising by 0.06 degrees C per year. It is not just people who are at risk
but many millions of dollars worth of property, tourism facilities, trekking
trails, roads, bridges and hydro-electric plants which are the economic
life-blood of many countries in the region.
The
researchers have found that, as a result of the melting of a nearby glacier,
the the Tsho Rolpa Lake has grown six-fold, from an area of 0.23 square
kilometres in the late 1950s to one of 1.4 square kilometres in late 90ties.
The Tsho Rolpa Lake that feeds the Rolwaling and Tama Koshi valleys in
the Dolakha District of Nepal.
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Tama
Koshi valley near Dolakha
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More Information
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Tsho
Rolpa, Rolwaling Valley
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