Glaciologist attempts to quantify impact of global warming on Asia’s glaciers

(Phys.org)—Hamish Pritchard, a glaciologist with Cambridge University, has conducted a study of Asia’s glaciers and how they might be impacted by global warming. In his paper published in the journal Nature, he describes the nature of the glaciers that exist in the high mountains of Asia, which include the Kunlun Shan, Pamir, Karakoram, Hindu Kush and Tian Shan mountains and, of course, the Himalayas. Pritchard looked at how they impact people living in the area and how things might change in light of global warming. Tobias Bolch with the University of Zurich offers a News & Views piece on the work done by Pritchard and adds some perspectives of his own regarding some of the possible changes likely to come about in the places that have become dependent on melting glacial water.