Medicine and Health
Glaciers in High Mountain Asia generate meltwater that supports the water needs of 250
million people, but current knowledge of annual accumulation and ablation is limited to
sparse field measurements biased in location and glacier size. Here, we present altitudinallyresolved
specific mass balances (surface, internal, and basal combined) for 5527 glaciers in
High Mountain Asia for 2000–2016, derived by correcting observed glacier thinning patterns
for mass redistribution due to ice flow. We find that 41% of glaciers accumulated mass over
less than 20% of their area, and only 60% ± 10% of regional annual ablation was compensated
by accumulation. Even without 21st century warming, 21% ± 1% of ice volume will
be lost by 2100 due to current climatic-geometric imbalance, representing a reduction in
glacier ablation into rivers of 28% ± 1%. The ablation of glaciers in the Himalayas and Tien
Shan was mostly unsustainable and ice volume in these regions will reduce by at least 30%
by 2100. The most important and vulnerable glacier-fed river basins (Amu Darya, Indus, Syr
Darya, Tarim Interior) were supplied with >50% sustainable glacier ablation but will see longterm
reductions in ice mass and glacier meltwater supply regardless of the Karakoram
Anomaly.Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-23073-4
Courtesy: https://www.nature.com
Copyright: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23073-4 © The Author(s) 2021
