'Himalayan glaciers here to stay'

CHANDIGARH: Glaciers are here to stay in the Himalayas. Studies conducted by glaciologists across the Himalayan region in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand have shown that global warming has little to do with their melting.The conclusion was drawn by glaciologists after studying the behaviour of 35 Himalayan glaciers. The Mentossa glacier in Miyar valley of Lahaul-Spiti in Himachal Pradesh has, in fact, expanded in the last few years while there is no change in the Kangriz glacier in Zanskar valley of J&K since 1913.Glaciologists,claiming that global warming and melting of glaciers have no relation with eachother, say each glacier is behaving in a different manner. Had global warmingbeen responsible, then all of them would have behaved in a similar manner, theyclaimed.The prediction that glaciers would melt by 2035 by ProfessorSyed Iqbal Hasnain may have landed the Inter Governmental Panel on ClimateChange (IPCC) chairman R K Pachauri in a tight spot, but data collected byglaciologits across the Himalayan region shows that such claims do not holdwater, and the major rivers orginitaing from the Himalayas would continue toflow for the years to come as the glaciers are going tostay.Glaciologist Milap Chand Sharma from Jawaharlal NehruUniversity says after studying 27 glaciers in Lahaul-Spiti district of HimachalPradesh, he has found that the melting taking place is normal. His conclusion isbased on study of the behaviour of glaciers from 1975 to 2008.TheMiyar glacier in Lahaul region covers an area of 27 square km. Since 1971, ithas receded by just 150 meters. If it continues to melt at this pace, it wouldtake around 3,000 years for it to melt completely, he added.Acomparison of photographs of glaciers available from 1907 shows that after 1998,glaciesr have not changed much, says Sharma.