Global warming melting Himalayan glaciers at an ‘exceptional’ rate, study says

The world has presented scientists with a new flashing warning sign.

According to a new study, global warming is causing glaciers in the Himalayas to melt at an “exceptional rate.” The research was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

The glaciers are also melting there faster than any other region of the world, threatening the water supply of close to 2 billion people. Only Antartica and the Arctic have more ice than the Himalayas.

“Our findings clearly show that ice is now being lost from Himalayan glaciers at a rate that is at least 10 times higher than the average rate over past centuries,” University of Leeds professor and researcher Jonathan Carrivick, the study’s lead author, said in a statement. “This acceleration in the rate of loss has only emerged within the last few decades and coincides with human-induced climate change.”

The study found the glaciers had lost as much as 40% of their area, much of it since the 1970s.

The glaciers supply water to people who live in the mountains and in the valleys near rivers like the Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra and many others.

A colleague of Carrivick said time is running out to prevent further disaster.

“This research is just the latest confirmation that those changes are accelerating and that they will have a significant impact on entire nations and regions,” University of Dundee researcher Simon Cook, one of the study’s co-authors, said.