ICIMOD: Climate change and its impacts on the cryosphere and water resources of Hindu Kush Himalaya

Over the last three months this blog has attempted to review some of the current literature on climate change and its impacts on glaciers within the Himalayan region. The regional variability demonstrated from research in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya underlines the complexity of glaciers response to climate change. However, some general patterns are apparent. This video by Shretha (2008) a Climate Change Specialist at the ICIMOD covers most of the topics discussed in my blog and provides a good overview of the state of glaciers in the the Himalayan region.

The video is relatively long, but is highly informative drawing upon paleoclimatic records and instrumental records to provide a comprehensive summary of the current state of glaciers in the Himalayas. Although fieldwork research is unevenly distributed, and is clustered mainly in Nepal and lower altitude regions, by combining different proxies to assess changes increases the validity of the observations that have been drawn.

Breakdown on video:
0-8 minutes: Introduction to HKH and patterns of changes to glaciers in the region due to climate change
8+ minutes: Impacts of these changes on local communities including GLOFs and changes to river discharge