2023-12-13 07:13:33
Glaciers in the Himalayas are melting rapidly, but a new report has found that a surprising phenomenon in the world’s highest mountain range could help slow the effects of the global climate crisis.
Writes about this Nature Geoscience.
A warming climate is creating a larger temperature gap between the ambient air above Himalayan glaciers and the cooler air in direct contact with the surface of the ice masses, explained Francesca Pelliciotti, professor of glaciology at the Austrian Institute of Science and Technology and lead author of the study.
“This results in increased turbulent heat exchange at the glacier surface and greater cooling of surface air masses,” she said in a press release.
As the cool, dry surface air becomes cooler and denser, it sinks. Air masses flow down slopes into valleys, causing a cooling effect in the lower parts of glaciers and neighboring ecosystems.
With ice and snow from the mountain range flowing into 12 rivers that supply fresh water to nearly 2 billion people in 16 countries, it will be important to find out whether Himalayan glaciers can maintain this self-perpetuating cooling effect as the region faces a likely rise in temperatures.
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