Himalayan glaciers not melting because of climate change, report findsHimalayan glaciers are actually advancing rather than retreating, claims the first major study since a controversial UN report said they would be melted within quarter of a century.
喜馬拉雅冰川實際上是前進而不是退回，第一份重大的研究宣稱；自從一份有爭議的聯合國報告說，它們將在四分之一個世紀內融化。
By Dean Nelson, New Delhi and
Richard Alleyne
6:00AM GMT 27 Jan 2011
The key factor affecting the advance or retreat of the Karakoram glaciers is the amount of debris strewn on their surface. The Passu glacier in the Karakorum region of Pakistan Photo: ALAMY關鍵因素影響喀喇崑崙冰川的前進或後退的，是在其表面散落的垃圾數額。在巴基斯坦喀喇崑崙地區的爬蘇冰川 照片：ALAMY
Researchers have discovered that contrary to popular belief half of the ice flows in the Karakoram range of the mountains are actually growing rather than shrinking.
The discovery adds a new twist to the row over whether global warming is causing the world's highest mountain range to lose its ice cover.
It further challenges claims made in a 2007 report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that the glaciers would be gone by 2035.
Although the head of the panel Dr Rajendra Pachauri later admitted the claim was an error gleaned from unchecked research, he maintained that global warming was melting the glaciers at "a rapid rate", threatening floods throughout north India.
The new study by scientists at the Universities of California and Potsdam has found that half of the glaciers in the Karakoram range, in the northwestern Himlaya, are in fact advancing and that global warming is not the deciding factor in whether a glacier survives or melts.
Dr Bodo Bookhagen, Dirk Scherler and Manfred Strecker studied 286 glaciers between the Hindu Kush on the Afghan-Pakistan border to Bhutan, taking in six areas.
Their report, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, found the key factor affecting their advance or retreat is the amount of debris – rocks and mud – strewn on their surface, not the general nature of climate change.
Glaciers surrounded by high mountains and covered with more than two centimetres of debris are protected from melting.
Debris-covered glaciers are common in the rugged central Himalaya, but they are almost absent in subdued landscapes on the Tibetan Plateau, where retreat rates are higher.
In contrast, more than 50 per cent of observed glaciers in the Karakoram region in the northwestern Himalaya are advancing or stable.
"Our study shows that there is no uniform response of Himalayan glaciers to climate change and highlights the importance of debris cover for understanding glacier retreat, an effect that has so far been neglected in predictions of future water availability or global sea level," the authors concluded.
Dr Bookhagen said their report had shown "there is no stereotypical Himalayan glacier" in contrast to the UN's climate change report which, he said, "lumps all Himalayan glaciers together."
Dr Pachauri, head of the Nobel prize-winning UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has remained silent on the matter since he was forced to admit his report's claim that the Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035 was an error and had not been sourced from a peer-reviewed scientific journal. It came from a World Wildlife Fund report.
He angered India's environment minister and the country's leading glaciologist when he attacked those who questioned his claim as purveyors of "voodoo science".
The environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had cited research indicating some Himalayan glaciers were advancing in the face of the UN's claim.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/8284223/Himalayan-glaciers-not-melting-because-of-climate-change-report-finds.html
全球暖化非冰川融化元兇
2011年01月29日(六)
全球暖化究竟是否導致冰川融化的元兇，有科學家稱已破解這迷思。有美國及德國科學家對喜馬拉雅山的冰川進行研究，發現其中一個山脈的冰川面積，在氣候暖化下不減反增。研究員認為，全球暖化並非冰川融化的主因，冰川有否被瓦礫及碎石覆蓋可能才是關鍵因素。
美國加州大學及德國波茨坦大學的科學家，過去三年研究過在阿富汗、巴基斯坦、不丹之間六個地區的喜馬拉雅山冰川衞星圖片，發現區內的二百八十六個冰川對氣候轉變反應不一。是次研究的主要負責人舍勒（Dirk Scherler）表示，大部分冰川均出現面積減少的迹象。然而位於西北部的喀喇崑崙山脈（Karakoram），有逾半冰川沒有因全球暖化而導致面積減少，反而出現增長。
沙石護冰川 研究登期刊
研究員指，沒有融化的冰川都是被附近的高山包圍，而且被厚逾兩厘米的碎石及瓦礫所覆蓋。反觀在西藏高原的冰川幾乎沒有沙石掩蓋，冰川融化的情況明顯得多。研究員相信，這層沙石為冰川帶來保護作用，相關研究報告刊登於《自然地球科學》月刊中。
○七年時，聯合國政府間氣候變化問題研究小組（IPCC）曾提出冰川會在二○三五年前全部融化的報告，惹來極大回響，其後小組承認該報告是建基於未經核實的研究資料。今次的研究亦是質疑全球暖化是否冰川融化的元兇，更提出全新論點。然而英國學者謝潑德警告，冰融亦可以由海洋主導，故此今次研究未能完全排除全球暖化對冰川的影響。
喜馬拉雅山冰川的融冰情況，也與全球的水源供應有莫大關連。區內冰川為十條河流供水，從而影響全球五分一人口的水源。
http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20110129/00180_009.html?pubdate=20110129
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