World misled over Himalayan glacier meltdown

[FarCenter]

A WARNING that climate change will melt most of the Himalayan glaciers by 2035 is likely to be retracted after a series of scientific blunders by the United Nations body that issued it.

Two years ago the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a benchmark report that was claimed to incorporate the latest and most detailed research into the impact of global warming. A central claim was the world's glaciers were melting so fast that those in the Himalayas could vanish by 2035.

In the past few days the scientists behind the warning have admitted that it was based on a news story in the New Scientist, a popular science journal, published eight years before the IPCC's 2007 report.

It has also emerged that the New Scientist report was itself based on a short telephone interview with Syed Hasnain, a little-known Indian scientist then based at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.

Hasnain has since admitted that the claim was "speculation" and was not supported by any formal research. If confirmed it would be one of the most serious failures yet seen in climate research. The IPCC was set up precisely to ensure that world leaders had the best possible scientific advice on climate change.

Professor Murari Lal, who oversaw the chapter on glaciers in the IPCC report, said he would recommend that the claim about glaciers be dropped: "If Hasnain says officially that he never asserted this, or that it is a wrong presumption, than I will recommend that the assertion about Himalayan glaciers be removed from future IPCC assessments."

<SNIP>http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6991177.ece

[timeforpeace]

1. Other than that, it was spot on.

[HughMoran]

2. Awww Geez

:wtf:

[lunatica]

3. Actually I hope this is good news for the planet

The accounts of the acceleration of the melting have been very alarming.

[Gabi Hayes]

4. nice, balanced 'report'. why not offer some other POVs? it all boils down to whom is believed:

Satellite images show Himalayan glacier receded 1.5 km in 30 years ... Dec 5, 2009 ... Satellite images show Himalayan glacier receded 1.5 km in 30 years ... Glacial Retreat and Climate Change” on the Himalayan glaciers points ...
www.earthtimes.org/.../297875,satellite-images-show-himalayan-glacier-receded-15-km-in-30-years.html - Cached

Himalayan Glaciers Not Melting | The Resilient Earth What, then, explains the rapidly retreating Himalayan glaciers? .... glaciers have been a significant contributing factor to observed rapid glacier retreat. ...
www.theresilientearth.com/?q=content/himalayan-glaciers-not... - Cached

Himalayan glacier retreat using IRS 1C PAN stereo data ... A merged image of nadir viewing PAN and LISS III data of 2000 and PAN stereo data of 2000-2001 from Indian Remote Sensing satellite (IRS)-1C cov...
www.informaworld.com/smpp/.../content~db=all~content=a770407753

Himalayan Glacier Retreat & Effects File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
dreds of millions of people who rely on glacier-dependent rivers in China, India, and. Nepal. The rate of retreat of Himalayan glaciers is accelerating as ...
www.atmos.washington.edu/2009Q1/111/.../HughesS_BedionesJ.pdf

Are glaciers growing or shrinking? ... of growing glaciers, the overwhelming trend in glaciers worldwide is retreat. ... By the way, there will still be glaciers in the Himalayas in 2035 ...
www.skepticalscience.com/himalayan-glaciers-growing.htm - Cached - Similar

[notadmblnd]

5. The news is certain to disappoint those gloom and doomers that appear to want drastic climate change

[johnaries]

6. O Rly? then how about satellite pictures?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070327113346.htm

The results show clear regression of the large glaciers whose terminal tongues reach the lowest levels (about 4000 m) with a thinning of 8 to 10 m below 4400 m. Such loss is 4 to 7 m between 4400 and 5000 m, passing to 2 m above 5000 m.

Notice the article says the "large glaciers whose terminal tongues reach the lowest levels". There are thousands of glaciers in the Himalayas. And, in fact, some of the large ones at the top are actually growing. Which is also a result of global warming, as this article explains:

http://news.discovery.com/earth/himalayas-glaciers-shrink.html

When Shroder and a team of researchers examined satellite imagery of the region's glaciers dating back to 1960, they found that 87 glaciers had surged forward during that time, sliding down into lower elevations. An analysis of gravity signatures in the region also suggests the glaciers are growing in mass, and have been since at least 1980. ....

...Surging glaciers are common and do not necessarily mean a glacier is growing in overall size. But the fact that dozens of them have all surged in the same region hints that larger climate forces are at work.

"It looks like it's the Westerlies," Shroder said, referring to strong jets of wind that pour from west to east in a belt around the planet. Though he can't say for certain, the winds appear to be carrying more moisture from the warming Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea eastward.

Unfortunately,

But it's not likely to last.

"As temperatures continue increasing, they will overtake additional mass provided by snow," Fountain said. "The freezing level will keep rising, and glaciers will melt."

[nosmokes]

7. thanks for a great post setting the record straight

[tabatha]

8. Yep, at least scientists admit it when they make a mistake.