Tag

Tibet

Browsing

Researchers Point to Climate Change in Glacier Collapse

By

Scientists Blame Climate Change for Glacier Collapse in Western Tibet

As temperatures warm across the globe, ice sheets and glaciers are being affected–including glaciers that have been stable for decades. A recent study explored the reasons for a glacial collapse in western Tibet, an area of previously stable cold-based glaciers.

[link url=”https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-glaciology/article/div-classtitletwo-glaciers-collapse-in-western-tibetdiv/881D7526DCBCB83E45728829F13F802E/core-reader#” title=”Researchers believe”] that climate change is likely the cause of a deadly avalanche that occurred in western Tibet when a 3km-long, cold-based glacier collapsed. 

The avalanche, which occurred on July 17, 2016 and lasted approximately five minutes, reached Aruco Lake, killed nine nomadic yak herders, and buried 3.7 square miles of the valley floor in ice. GPS and satellite photos show before and after pictures of the glacier, the path of the avalanche, and the large deposit of the snow and ice on the valley floor.

Cold-based glaciers are frozen to bedrock, and not temperature-based, which makes the glaciers historically more stable than others. In recent decades, the glacier studied had been reduced by about 4.3 percent. Researchers believe that a temperature increase of about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit over the last 50 years contributed to the avalanche that caused more than 70 million tons of ice to break away from the previously stable Aru glacier in the Tibetan Plateau.

The short duration of the avalanche that covered such a long distance is not a common occurrence. Researchers believe that to have such a rapid decent rate, meltwater at the base of the glacier must have accelerated the ice flow. Meltwater occurs when temperatures increase enough to melt the snow and ice, and the melted water then seeps below to the base of the glacier.

“This is the first known occurrence of an unexpected, instantaneous collapse of a cold-based glacier in a nonvolcanic region.” — [link url=”https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-glaciology/article/div-classtitletwo-glaciers-collapse-in-western-tibetdiv/881D7526DCBCB83E45728829F13F802E/core-reader#” title=Tian, et al.”]

In September 2016, just two months after the Aru glacier gave way, another avalanche occurred on the same mountain range, on a neighboring glacier. Although the cause of that avalanche is still being investigated, researchers believe that it was also the result of globally rising temperatures that melted snow and ice, which increased the amount of meltwater at the base of the glacier.

[relink url=”https://amuedge.com/conservative-reasons-for-supporting-climate-change-part-i/” url2=”https://amuedge.com/conservative-reasons-for-supporting-climate-change-recognition-part-ii/”]

Unprecedented in western Tibet

Glacier collapse is unprecedented in western Tibet. Glaciers there have been stable for decades, even when glaciers in southern and eastern Tibet have continued melting at an accelerated rate.

Glaciers in western Tibet have also expanded due to increased snowfall. In fact, researchers believe that the increased snowfall might have contributed to the amount of meltwater, increasing the risk that the glacier would collapse. With the continued global temperature rise, researchers fear future glacial collapses in this same area, but currently have no way of predicting where or when this might occur.

[relink url=”https://amuedge.com/education/feedback-loops-climate-change-on-steroids/” url2=”http://edmdigest.com/adaptation/kids-are-the-future-start-teaching-climate-change-early/”]

Keep Reading
By

Tibetan Immolation Protests Continue

By

By William Tucker

A Tibetan media outlet operating in exile is reporting that two teenage Tibetan monks set themselves on fire Monday morning to protest the Chinese government. The immolations occurred outside of the Kirti Monastery in Aba where many of the immolations have taken place over the past three years. This most recent immolation protest is claimed to be the 51st, but independent verification is hard to come.

Multiple Protests Test Beijing

By

By William Tucker

This past weekend three more Buddhist monks set themselves ablaze in Seda county of Sichuan province. These most recent self immolations bring the number to 19 since the protests began back in March of 2011. Each immolation prompted an immediate large scale protest resulting in the Chinese People’s Armed Police firing into the crowd. Independent reports are difficult to verify at this time.

Another Self-Immolation in China Highlights Many Underlying Problems

By

By William Tucker

Two Tibetan monks have set themselves on fire, a practice known as ‘self-immolation,’ to protest Chinese policies over the past two days. These two acts take the number of self-immolations by Tibetan monks to 15 over the last year. As is typically the case, larger protests break out shortly after these acts occur. In this most recent case, Beijing has agreed to allow the protests to take place.