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Archive for the ‘Tibetan Plateau’ Category

The Unwinnable Contest For Himalayan Water Resources

Via East Asia Forum, commentary on the competing draws on Himalayan water supplies: For millions of years, monsoonal winds have cycled between Asia’s tropical seas and the Tibetan Plateau, delivering snow to its high-altitude mountains and rains to the plains below them. The melting snow and summer rains combine to create a system of rivers […]

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The Water Future Of Earth’s ‘Third Pole’

Via Eurasia Review, a look at the water future of the Himalaya: Himalaya. Karakoram. Hindu Kush. The names of Asia’s high mountain ranges conjure up adventure to those living far away, but for more than a billion people, these are the names of their most reliable water source. Snow and glaciers in these mountains contain […]

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The Third Pole Is Melting

Courtesy of The Diplomat, an article on the impact of rapidly retreating Tibetan glaciers: The Tibetan plateau, which holds the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) ice sheet, is known as the world’s “Third Pole.” It holds the largest number of glaciers and snow after the Arctic and Antarctic. The Tibetan plateau has more than 46,000 glaciers, […]

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Collapsing Glaciers Threaten Asia’s Water Supplies

Via Nature, a study on the impact of shrinking glacial ice on Asia’s water supplies: The ‘third pole’ is the planet’s largest reservoir of ice and snow after the Arctic and Antarctic. It encompasses the Himalaya–Hindu Kush mountain ranges and the Tibetan Plateau. The region hosts the world’s 14 highest mountains and about 100,000 square […]

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Asia’s Water Supply Endangered by Third Pole Warming

Via Glacier Hub, an article on the climatological and glacial changes in the ‘third pole’, which encompasses the Himalayas, Hindu Kush, Karakoram and the Tibetan Plateau: It is well known that warming will deeply affect glaciers and ice at the poles. Many of the effects are observable today and will continue to impact wildlife, people, […]

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Water Dangers In South Asia

Via the Third Pole, a detailed look at how – with glacier retreat, permafrost melt, and extreme rainfall events – the countries of the Hindu Kush Himalayas have to start cooperating far more closely, or pay a huge price: Water in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region is going through large and dramatic changes, caused […]

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