Hidden Ice Melt in the Himalaya: Revealing the ’Invisible’ Glacier Loss Underwater

An info graphic by the Chinese Academy of Sciences that explains how much the ice loss of lake terminating glaciers in the Himalaya has been underestimated. Image Source: Chinese Academy of Sciences. By Chinese Academy of Sciences - A study by a multinational research team with the participation of Graz University of Technology shows that the actual mass loss of numerous glaciers in the Himalayas has been significantly underestimated so far. A new insightful study reveals that the mass loss of lake-terminating glaciers in the greater Himalaya has been significantly underestimated, due to the inability of satellites to see glacier changes occurring underwater, leading to critical implications for the region's future projection of glacier disappearance and water resources. The research, which combines multi-temporal satellite data with bathymetric measurements, offers valuable insights into the growing issue of subaqueous mass loss in the Himalaya. Published in Nature Geoscience , the study conducted by an international team including researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Graz University of Technology, Austria, University of St Andrews, UK and Carnegie Mellon University, USA demonstrates that a previous assessment underestimated the total mass loss of lake-terminating glaciers in the greater Himalaya by 6. The most significant underestimation of 10%, occurred in the central Himalaya, where glacial lake growth has been the most rapid.