Climate Change in Himalaya

It was a great pleasure under such an unpleasant weather to spend the Saturday afternoon in Conway Hall listening to a range of international experts and campaigners to discuss the environmental sustainability issues and the impact of population growth on climate change, this conference of ''Climate Change and Us' was hosted by the membership charity Population Matters and chaired by Sara Parkin . One of the noteworthy takeaways for me is from the speech about ''Arctic Climate Feedback and Food production'' given by Prof Peter Wadhams who is UK's most experienced sea ice scientist, best known for his worldwide authority and 47 years of research on sea ice and physical ocean processes in the Arctic and the Antarctic. ''Since  the first measurements of albedo were collected from Nimbus-7 in 1979 '' , it is estimated that '' the Arctic ocean albedo has changed from 52% to 48% , produced an increase in radiative forcing 4W/m2'...

Many of us came into 2018 with hope, expectation, and resolution, wished it to be a great one to brighten and enrich our lives, however, at the very beginning of the new year the life clock stopped for  three forestry patrollers  who would never ever see their wishes come true. I am sorry to start the 2018 blog with such a sad news  Thol Khna, 26, a Geographic Information Systems staffer for Wildlife Conservation Society Cambodia (WCS) for just six months before going out on patrol in Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary, Sok Vathana, a Military Police officer, and Theun Soknay, a ranger with the Environment Ministry for the sanctuary were attacked while they were patrolling in O’Raing district near the  O’Huch border crossing w ith  Vietnam . The reason behind the shootout is still under-investigated, but it could be concluded as “ related to illegal logging in our protected area ” said Kong Putheara, Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary director. The area that is ri...

The 3-month long assignment has come to the end, but the journey with the Himalayas never ends. Writing this blog is just like a self-paced trekking deep into the Himalayas, along with the magnificent landscape and incredible flora and fauna, the environmental change is also taking place in the Third Pole in recent decades. Natural climate variability and increased human activities are known to have contributed to glacial environment change, forest degradation, floods and GLOFs, landcover and biodiversity loss associated with ecosystem disturbance, which in turn affects the global climate system regulation and leads to vulnerabilities in social-economic developments at many levels. Before it is too late, more attention and actions with precise steps are needed from governments, research institutions, NGOs, local communities, you, me and everyone, to safeguard the Himalayan environment and human well-being. I will keep this blog open for more discoveries along the journey in the Himalay...

So far we have talked about the climate change, biodiversity loss and ecosystem disturbance causing various issues in the Himalayas, these issues need to be closely monitored and studied in order to reduce scientific uncertainty and provide a science-lead analysis for policymakers to address.  The well-known complex terrain in the Himalayas with its high variability of landmass and topography, make the ground monitoring and measurement  less successful, point data  from weather or hydrological station are not good enough to be a representative in certain areas.  Data coverage and quality are of high importance for developing environmental  models, incorrect parameters will result in significant  model error , thereby the cutting-edge geospatial technologies - Remote Sensing & GIS have been applied and funded to bridge the spatial information gap for the Himalayas since  two decades  ago.   By definition,  Remo...

Himalayan is a paradise for plant species, comprised of 39% grassland, 20% forested area, 15% of shrubland, and 5% agricultural land . The vegetation can be broadly grouped into four altitudinal types— tropical, subtropical, temperate, and alpine . Apart from elevation, the plant communities is also affected by climatic factors such as changes in temperature, precipitation, snow cover, wind and sun exposure. Meanwhile  anthropocentric influence  is driving vegetation dynamics to a change owing to urbanisation, deforestation, land-use change and hydropower development. Although facing the challenge of Himalayan topographical complexity and harsh environment, advanced methods such as satellite remote sensing and  Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)   have been developped and utilised  for high-quality mapping and data analysis. Numerous institutions also endeavour to make progress with government and local community on plant life conservation and vulner...

Source: JULIE LARSEN MAHER @WCS Hi there, I know you rarely see me this close, I am a medium-sized cat but not that kind of cat you often see in nature, instead I am solitary by very high altitude and one of the most elusive and vulnerable top predators of the world. My kingdom can be found in mountainous regions from Central Asia of Russia, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan to Hindu-Kush-Himalayan regions through Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal and China. Life in these harshest environments is not easy, but I am very well evolved and superbly adapted to survive. Thanks to my woolly and dense hairs I can ward off the severe cold and easily walk on ice and snow with my large fur-covered snowshoes . I've also got enlarged nasal cavity and muscular chest to get sufficient oxygen at high altitudes, my powerful legs and long tail (as long as my body) help me to spring up to 50 feet high with a good balance , and move around my rugged kingdom without any problem. ...

No matter how challenging it could be for living in the highest mountain range in the world, n ot a surprise, the Himalayas nurtures a fantastic diversity of life.  As one of the  10 mega-centres  and the 25  biodiversity hotspots in the world , the Himalayas is a home to : • 10,000 types of plants • 300 mammals • 977 birds • 176 reptiles • 105 amphibians • 269 freshwater fish About  163 globally threatened-endangered species  inhabit in the Himalayas, including Asian elephant, Snow leopard, Ganges River dolphin, Red panda, Bengal tiger, Greater one-horned rhino. Here is a quick view of the amazing ecosystem and the threats faced by the Himalayas. 

Black Carbon (BC) has a  noticeable   history  over the past 150 years in Hindu-Kush-Himalayan (HKH) and Tibetan Plateau (TP),  from pre-industry to modern periods. An analysis  on Mt. Everest ice core during 1860–2000 and based on  Single Particle Soot Photometer  demonstrates that BC concentration from 1975-2000 shows about 3-fold increase compared to the background level of 1860-1975, indicating BC from anthropogenic source has been introduced and transported to highland of Himalayas.   What is black carbon BC is derived from incomplete combustion of organic matter from both natural and anthropogenic sources, in the form of carbonaceous aerosols, heating the  aerosol-planetary boundary layer  with a net warming effect  by absorbing and scattering sunlight. BC can also be deposited onto snow and ice, darkening the surfaces and reducing their albedo feedback . Both mechanisms ar...

Source: http://climateobserver.org/unfccc-last-round-negotiations-limas-climate-summit-opens-bonn/ “ We can seal the deal with you on the condition that no funding goes to India!”  said my classmates representing the States to another group representing China, in the Global Environmental Change class of last week, a role-play simulation of  COP23 climate negotiation.  “ We cannot use the excuse of money – or the lack of it – not to do anything. Yes, developed countries have to make financial commitments, but what if they don’t?”  Charles Hopkins, from international humanitarian charity  CARE International  in Ethiopia called for government  especially those in Africa , to make the policies for disaster management in place.  This urgent appeal sent by Mr Hopkins as well as the simulated international game of ‘give-and-take’ are both consistent with what I am going to talk about here to end the Himalayas hazard blog series.  ...

In this post, let's continue to look at the existing and emerging methods to model the stage of a GLOF,  the reason why the advanced models are so far rarely seen in glacial hazard literature , and what are the main challenge for the modellers and research groups to achieve their expected goal of hazard assessment and prediction. Picture: Rumbak Valley in the catchment of Hemis National Park of  Himalayas, Rumbak is one of the numerous villages in the  Ladakh  Range   region of north-west India.  Credit:  Zhu Jing (writer), travelling in 2014 Review of available methods  Westoby et al., 2014  very well summarises and presents a number of approaches to model different stage or episode of a GLOF, which can be categorised as A Trigger Mechanism  A Dam Breach  An outburst downstream passage The simulation of a dam breach initiation and development largely rely on the empirical or analytical formulation ...