Indian climate boffins: Himalayan glaciers are NOT MELTING

[FarCenter]

Top Indian physicists have concluded Himalayan glaciers show little sign of retreat – in one of the largest studies of its type ever carried out.

I. M. Bahuguna et al, publishing in Current Science [PDF, issue index], studied changes to 2,000 glaciers in various Himalayan regions between 2001 to 2011. They conclude that 1,700 were stable, showing the same surface area and no change of direction.

248 glaciers exhibited a retreat, and 18 an advance. The scientists estimate a net loss of glacier area of about 10,000 km2 – that's a 0.2 per cent decrease (+/- 2.5pc), and an average retreat of 2.1 metres annually.

Glacier melt is important to note because it presages rising sea levels in the future – although this can take a very long time, typically hundreds of years. The Indian boffins used satellite imagery backed up by selective field observation of their own. It confirms earlier research published in Nature that the Himalayas are in line with the historical natural warming trend.

Glacier extent reached its peak 22,000 years ago. Glacier retreat accelerated with the end of the last ice age, some 11,000 to 12,000 years ago. They're expected to advance again when the current interglacial period comes to an end.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/13/indian_boffins_himalayan_glaciers_are_not_melting_ipcc_alarmist_global_warming/

[immoderate]

1. I suspect an increase in monsoon activity, due to AGW, keeps the glaciers fed.

These studies, being done from satellites, also omit measurements of ice thickness. In any case, local anomalies should not distract from climate study.

--imm

[FarCenter]

3. Perhaps so, but these were the glaciers projected to disappear by 2035

With dire consequences for India, since they are the source of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and other rivers.

[immoderate]

4. So they might last until 2040.

I'm glad if the subcontinent has water, provided it's not from rising sea levels. But I would not use local anomalies to predict trends in global climate.

--imm

[FarCenter]

5. With a retreat of 0.2% per decade, they will last a lot longer.

[immoderate]

6. Yes, if they can maintain that rate, they will.

There are other views though.
https://www.skepticalscience.com/shrinking-Himalayan-glaciers.htm

--imm

[MohRokTah]

2. The altitude would have a lot to do with the glaciers there

Average sea level temps can rise substantially before any affect above 4 or 5 thousand meters is observed.

[Brother Buzz]

7. Glaciers on California's Mt. Shasta keep growing

Glaciers on California's Mt. Shasta keep growing

7/8/2008
By Samantha Young, Associated Press Writer

MOUNT SHASTA, Calif. — Reaching more than 14,000 feet above sea level, Mt. Shasta dominates the landscape of high plains and conifer forests in far Northern California.

While it's not California's tallest mountain, the tongues of ice creeping down Shasta's volcanic flanks give the solitary mountain another distinction. Its seven glaciers, referred to by American Indians as the footsteps made by the creator when he descended to Earth, are the only historical glaciers in the continental U.S. known to be growing.

With global warming causing the retreat of glaciers in the Sierra Nevada, the Rocky Mountains and elsewhere in the Cascades, Mt. Shasta is actually benefiting from changing weather patterns over the Pacific Ocean.

"When people look at glaciers around the world, the majority of them are shrinking," said Slawek Tulaczyk, an assistant professor of earth sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz. "These glaciers seem to be benefiting from the warming ocean."

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http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/2008-07-08-mt-shasta-growing-glaciers_N.htm