Skip to main content

Global Issues at Indo-Tibetan Border and its Glacier Burst in Uttarakhand

Mountainous environments are interrelated with transforming rapidly as the global temperatures climb higher. Around the globe, mountain glaciers are retreating [1, 2] and impacting the concern in water supply (for up to 1.9 billion people) [3]. These dramatic environmental changes are predicted and expected to ­­affect the mountain hazards, such as the flooding (frequency and magnitude) and landslide events [4]. The local ensured impacts well and highly uncertain scenario, because of the complex and critical interactions between the local weather, mountain cryosphere and topography [4].The world’s glaciers are well shrinking, with knock-on good impacts for local communities. Therefore, we need a good grasp of the hazards on which they leave behind.

High mountain hosts and their largest glacier concentration were present outside the polar locations/regions in Asia. These glaciers are vital contributors to streamflow process in one of the most populated areas of the world. The previous and past research studies have utilized these methods, which can give only regionally notified and averaged glacier mass balances to estimate the glacier and their related contribution in sea and rivers level rise. They have also provide various resolvable details for the determination of the models utilized for projecting the glacier and climate change, as these specific models do not capture the pattern, magnitude and intra-regional variability of glacier changes at present. 

An Asian Himalayan Glaciers

Nearly around 800 million strength of people are lived on the particular catchment areas of Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra rivers. During the changes at the time of dry seasons and also due to mountain valleys, the water flows specifically (released) from the glaciers. This scenario has reflects the high extensive glacier response which covers outside the Arctic and Alaska. A previous collections and predications of glacier and their coverage for the historic data of Himalaya and Karakoram (H-K) were recorded.

Tobias Bolch et al., have showed the good estimate for H-K, as defined, mainly based on mapping using recent satellite images of ~40,800 km2. The concern volume of glacier cannot be measured directly over regional scales, however to be modeled. Empirical estimates are highly uncertain and the range was about 2300 km3, taking the slope-dependent ice thickness into account, to ~3600 to ~6500 km3 based on volume-area scaling. The natural disputes of glacier are buffers to related hydrological season, a response of meltwater release during time of summer and also in early autumn [5].


Fig.1: (a) Locations of Uttarakhand and (b) Climate changes and their glacier response 

For our global conditions, the identification of new issues, that relates to the following the terms of local water resource (mountains), riverfed aquifers, global sea-level, and climate changes. The new social and economic problems are varied with glacier meltwater changes over the H-K. They have highlighted the majority of stream flow (as source) in their section of H-K, which tells about summer precipitation, monsoon dominated regions with impacted summer precipitation. As per environmental changes, they have specifically insisted with spatial variability with water flow counting, hydropower generation, ecosystems, and agriculture. Glacier change will also modifies present risks due to nature of glacial hazards, which is not least one obtained from glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs).

Glacial lake outburst floods are one such hazard, which occur when water breaches a moraine or glacier dam. They can be triggered by the simple build-up of water pressure, or by more abrupt events, such as an avalanche. Outburst floods can release vast quantities of water, often resulting in catastrophic consequences downstream [4].

A detail study in the Nature Geoscience, shows that the global issue (greenhouse gas emissions) from human being activities are certainly responsible. Impacting an individual hazard (physical, biological, chemical concept) to human being insisted emissions are very difficult task (natural) variability in local conditions.

In a previous study of flood risk factor from Lake Palcacocha, Stuart-Smith et al. explains the three various step process as per following hints are (i) they calculate the influence of global warming (greenhouse gas emissions), (ii) they establish the impact of this global warming on the glacier into new form (drains into the form of lake), and finally (iii) they quantify the reporting role of impact on local risk (flood and their related flows).

Quantification of how concern hazards are impacted by environmental conditions has been hindered by the issue of local observations in specific high-altitude mountains. The use of the increasing effect abundance of predicted data from Earth observation via satellites and impressing local knowledge/studies could support to plug these gaps.

Identification of Asia glacier act (2000-2016)

Fanny Brun et al., have calculated the glacier mass balance (about 92%) in the selective Asia region of Himalaya. They have enriched the knowledge of glacier response, using digital elevation models from satellite photo (stereo-imagery). Specifically the region of glacier mass effects were varied in Nyainqentanglha (Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains), and in Kunlun [6].

Specifically, Fanny Brunet al, reports the shed light on the preceded area and their glacier mass effect changes, for which they have impacted contradictory calculations that exists in the previous literatures. Further, they give crucial details for the estimation of the best models that are utilized for projecting glacier mass response to global climatic change. In addition, at present these models are not supportable to capture the magnitude, pattern, and intra-regional impact in variability of glacier mass changes [7].    

A Case study of Uttarakhand Region

­­A placement of Uttarakhand region between three countries India, Tibet, and Nepal borders. The intensive global issues were raised with abnormal theme in the following scenarios

Ø  Rainfall level, Ø  Glacier lake, Ø  Flood risks, Ø  Climate change

The extreme casualties in the Uttarakhand region by accident floods are happened in June 2013 and February 2021. Such an incidents should take prior actions in government policy-making and respective implementation for managing human activities.

Our SNB team have emphasize this research article to enrich our viewer’s knowledge about the present issue in Indo-Tibetan border and their analysis of the glacier mass balance and corresponding data's of climate changes. These details are very important for informing great mitigation and their adaptation plans to ensure a proper sustainable future for the global’s mountain communities. The present writeup attempts were helpful to announce an alert and awareness in Himalayan area of India. As per the advice of India Meteorological Department, the concern people must to alert during the climate changes and respective data observations from 44 stations. Furthermore, the local-scale and analyses were need to determined otherwise, the hazards will occur in the future, crucially where they may be some impact on local communities and livelihoods. Hence, to ensure a sustainable future for the world’s mountain communities, this information is very essential for informing a successful mitigation and adaptation strategies.

References

1 (a) Dussaillant, I. et al. Nat. Geosci. 12, 802–808 (2019), (b) Nature Geoscience, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00694-4.

2. Brun, F., Berthier, E., Wagnon, P., Kääb, A. &Treichler, D. Nat. Geosci. 10, 668–67 (2017).

3. Immerzeel, W. W. et al. Nature 577, 364–369 (2020).

4. IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (ed Pörtner, H.-O.et al.) Ch. 2 (2019).

5. Bolch, T. et al., Science 336, 6079, 310314, (2012).

6. Fanny Brun et al., Nature Geoscience 10, 668–673(2017).

7. Jacob, T., Wahr, J., Pfeffer, W. T. & Swenson, S. Nature 482, 514–518 (2012).

                                                                                                

Dr. K. Rajkumar

(Author Profile)


                                                                                                                     

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

PROSPECTS ON PHOTOBIOREFINERY

Very recently, Prof. Dr. K. Faungnawakij and his research group have summarized a mini review report on an emerging renewable technique of Photobiorefinery . This is one of the beyond technique of Artificial Photosynthesis (AP) [1] . Despite great promises, AP technologies for solar H2 production and CO2 reduction are far uncompetitive to other promising technologies at the current stage . However, despite an enormous effort, time, and budget paid on AP-related researches throughout several decades, AP technologies have struggled to strive beyond laboratory demonstration except a very few exceptions [2] . This bitter reality makes the translation of this excellent science to practical application questionable [3] . Technoeconomic analysis shows that without achieving the aggressive technology targets, this technology will not be commercially viable. This has directed the research community towards the development of highly efficient yet expensive devices. While tremendous p...

Impact on Climate and Land Use Changes Around Ganga River

In India, Ganga is the largest river and also famous spiritual river, in meantime pollution issue in Ganga river is considered to be one of the most discussed topics on river water quality in the past decades . The river gets s everely polluted with untreated industrial and human wastes, and the river crossed around 11 states in India and provides water for about 40% of India's population, approximately 500 million people, we couldn’t find more than any other river in the world [ 1, 2 ]. Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has mentioned that 764 grossly polluting industries were discharging into the Ganga river, 487 industries are from the Kanpur region. Therefore, the Kanpur region was treated as the main polluted spot and immediate action should be taken for further recovery of water quality. The Kanpur region is one of the most important industrialized place in India. It is the most polluted stretch of the Ganga River, because of its excessive pollutant discharge from the i...

Electric Vehicle: Public Health and Climate Benefits

A research team led by Daniel Peters at Northwestern University has investigated that if we introducing electrifying vehicles in the streets of the United States could annually prevent hundreds-to-thousands of premature accidental deaths.This work highlights the potential of a synergistic solution to reduce CO 2 emissions by hundreds to millions of tons annually. The estimate of economic damages induced by introducing electrifying vehicles (EV) adoption is substantial. With current infrastructure, about 25% of electrifying vehicles adoption in the US can save approximately $16.8 billion annually, has been told in the study entitled"Public Health and Climate Benefits and Trade offs of U.S. Vehicle Electrification," in GeoHealth on 13 th August 2020 [1] .  Vehicle electrification in the United States could prevent hundreds to thousands of premature deaths annually while reducing carbon emissions by hundreds of millions of tons. This highlights the potential of co-beneficial...

Scientific Research Focus on “To End Hunger”

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO UN), Hunger Report, Ending hunger is a major objective of the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), hunger is the term used to define periods when populations are experiencing severe food insecurity - means that they go for entire days without eating due to lack of money, lack of access to food, or other resources [ 1 ]. Hunger is strongly interconnected with poverty, and it involves interactions among an array of social, political, demographic, and societal factors. An attention is must in the following topics to put an end card for poor hunger:  Global Hunger Index (GHI). World Food Program’s 2020. Global Report on Food Crises.   Smallholder-farming. Ceres2030. The two main international institutions are the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) , joined forces to estimate what it would cost to ...

Plasmonic Gold Nanoparticles as Designing Caps

Plasmonic nanomaterials have attracted significant interest because of its wide variety of applications such as sensing, energy conversion, photothermal therapy etc. Among the various plasmonic inorganic metals (Ag, Cu, Al, and Au) Au shows the excellent biocompatibility, chemical stability, and rich surface functionality. It can be seen that some new approaches have include the construction of metal shells on dielectric nanoparticles, and the control of island growth on nanoparticles and nanorods over the design of narrow gaps via nanoplates or nanoshells. Also, the conventional modulation of plasmonics via the control of shape, size and the aspect ratio of nanomaterials. The structural control have also arises from the active surface growth. As a result, the dynamic competition between ligand absorption and metal deposition occurs [ 1 ].   The properties of plasmonic nanostructures are highly dependent on its surface morphology, however, there are a very few methods for a...

Efficient Bio-Diesel Synthesis: Reusable Magnetic Catalysis

Prof. Anping Wang et al., with his research collaborative team from china ( 1. Guizhou University, China; and 2. Guizhou Normal University, China) and India (National Chemical Laboratory, India) have reviewed the research over views on the preparation methods, physicochemical properties, stabilization/functionalization, and the catalytic applications of magnetic materials, including magnetic acids, bases, enzymes, and acid-base bifunctional materials for the synthesis of bio-diesel. Here, we discuss only the preparation of efficient bio-diesel with merits and applications of magnetic nanocatalyst for the bio-diesel preparation . Bio-diesel products are mainly attain from bio mass feed stocks, which gives more attention in the biorefinery research affairs [1]. A green way of renewable liquid biofuels are emergency required one in present atmosphere. Among the various classes, best one is renewable diesel fuel, the chemical content of long-chain fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) or ethy...

Detection of Cancer via New Nano-Based Imaging Agents

New imaging agents were developed by physicians to detect cancer with better specificity and sensitivity. Further, they have the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes. It could offer enhanced premature cancer cells detection during routine screening and help the surgeons to identify tumor margins for surgical resection. Figure 1. In vivo visualization of 200 nm G8-liposomes imaged following intravenous injection [ 1 ]. Notice the bright accumulation and homogenous appearance of liposomes encapsulated with G8 dye (green). The vasculature region depicted here is of the mouse ear where real time flow video was taken at 30 fps. Scale bar represents 50 μm. Recently, Helen R. Salinas et al ., has evaluated the optical properties from a colorful class of pigments and dyes that humans routinely encounter [ 1 ]. These selective dyes and pigments are approved by Food and Drug Administration  (FDA) which have utilized for the coloring of foods, drugs, and cosmetics. The authors...

A Biomimetic Eye with Perovskite Nanowire

The term “Biomimetics” derived from Ancient Greek, refers to life imitation. It is an interdisciplinary field in which comes from biology, engineering, and chemistry concepts. Biomimetics is applied to the synthesis of  machines, or devices, which have functions that mimic real-life biological processes.  Prof. Fan Zhiyoung , Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong SAR, China, and his team (from the University of California and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA) has reported on the effective biological eye results with a new development “Biomimetic Eye” with supportive components such as hemispherical shape retina and perovskite nanowires  [1] .  Our eyes possess exceptional image and sensing nature, which selectively express the wide field of view, resolution, and sensitivity [2] . A specialty of biomimetic eye parts with such highlighted characteristics is a desirable one, speci...

RENEWABLE ENERGY'S ROLE IN ENVIRONMENTAL CLEEN-UP PROCESS

Human activity is overloading our atmosphere with carbon dioxide and other global warming emissions. These gases act like a blanket, trapping heat. The result is a web of significant and harmful impacts, from stronger, more frequent storms, to drought, sea level rise, and extinction. Most of global warming emissions come from our electricity sector. Most of those emissions come from fossil fuels like coal and natural gas . Sulfur dioxide (SO2) , which cause acid rain, comes from electricity generation. Nitrogen oxides (NOx) , which react with sunlight to create ground level ozone and smog, come from electricity generation.   Ozone (O3) occurs naturally in the upper atmosphere where it is beneficial.   Particulate matter is a type of air pollution more commonly referred to as soot. Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global climate change.   Mercury is a highly toxic metal that is released from coal-fired power plants. In contra...

Detection and Diagnosis: Heavy Toxic Metals

Prof. Youzhi Li, from Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China and his research team have recently published, “Total concentrations and sources of heavy metal pollution in global river and lake water bodies from 1972 to 2017”. They discussed on heavy metals like lead (Pb)  cause a severe threat to living beings because of its toxicity and bioaccumulation. Heavy metals like lead (Pb) cause a severe threat to living beings because of its toxicity and bioaccumulation. Amongst the heavy metals, lead (Pb) is the well-known one for its historical use in paints, petrol, and fuse joints in water pipes. Though the tradition of using Pb has been considerably decreased in recent years, Pb in drinking water still remains to be a problem for many societies around the world [ 1 ]. Hence, it is one of the supreme importance to monitor the levels of Pb in drinking water, so that contamination can be promptly identified and moderated. The World Health Organization (WHO) mentions a guideline l...