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Geography
Pradeep Kumar

07/02/21 13:20 PM IST

Water scarcity likely in the Himalayan catchment

In news

Glaciers of the Himalayas that make for a picturesque panorama are important sources of water for about a billion people who live in the basins of the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers

Himalayan
  • Himalayan rivers are affected by the different components – rainfall-runoff, snow-melt and glacier-melt – and notes that if drier and warmer scenarios continue in the near future (2031–2050), we are more likely to face water stress in these catchment areas. 
  • The team studied five basins in the central Himalaya – Sutlej, Thulo Bheri, Kali Gandaki, Dudh Kosi and Arun.
  • They analysed the daily precipitation, maximum and minimum daily temperatures, wind speeds, land cover, elevation and soil properties. 
The study
  • The results show that the glacier-melt increases about 15% to 70% in a warmer environment with its present volume, but then decreases to 3%–38% substantially when the glacier volumes shrink. 
  • Snowpacks and glaciers are two important water storage units in the Himalaya.
  • Glacier melt will increase initially, they will shrink in size quickly and the amount of glacier melt will also decline in the latter end of the century.
Source: PIB, Indian Express

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