CSM - Himalayan Glaciers Melting More Slowly Than Thought, But Seas Are Still Rising
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John Wahr of the University of Colorado in Boulder and colleagues, in a study published on Thursday, found that thinning glaciers and icecaps were pushing up sea levels by 1.5 millmetres (0.06 inches) a year, in line with a 1.2 to 1.8 mm range from other studies, some of which forecast sea levels could rise as much as 2 metres (2.2 yards) by 2100. Sea levels have already risen on average about 18 centimetres since 1900 and rapid global warming will accelerate the pace of the increase, scientists say, threatening coastlines from Vietnam to Florida and forcing low-lying megacities to build costly sea defences.
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GRACE measured the changes to ice mass over regions greater than 100 square kilometres. The data showed ice-covered areas in Asia, including the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges, was much less than other estimates, meaning the region contributed very little to sea level rise, in part because many glaciers were at freezing high elevations.
Wahr said the study gave a much clearer picture of what was happening to large ice-covered areas globally, particularly in remote parts of the Himalayas.
"There are simply too many glaciers, and most of them too remote to access, to be able to monitor all of them from the ground. There are more than 200,000 glaciers world-wide," he said, adding only a few hundred have been monitored over time spans of several years or more.
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http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0209/Study-Himalayan-glaciers-melting-more-slowly-than-thought-but-seas-are-still-rising
