World misled over Himalayan glacier meltdown

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

:wtf:

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

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

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


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



Unfortunately,