Tibet is the ice-box of South Asia, with its myriad glaciers acting as major water-keeper for the entire region. With some 37,000 glaciers in Chinese-controlled Tibet alone, Lonnie Thompson, glaciologist at Ohio State University, calls the Himalayan region 'Asia's freshwater bank account'. It's an ice-box where massive buildup of new snow and ice (deposits) has traditionally offset its annual runoff in rivers (withdrawals). But now the region is facing bankruptcy, because rapid withdrawals are depleting the account. Of the 680 glaciers currently monitored by Chinese scientists, 95 percent are shedding more ice than they are adding, particularly at the southern and eastern edges of the plateau. The glaciers are not simply retreating, they are losing mass from the surface down, says Thompson.
The 'ice-box' is under siege by climate change, and by human interference. The latter includes rampant deforestation by Chinese loggers in eastern Tibet, the building of the railway to Lhasa (damage to permafrost), and building of mega-dams on most of Tibet's major rivers.
The ice and water resources in Tibet come in many forms:
- glaciers—thousands of them within Tibet: undergoing rapid melting due to climate change and human interference—in the form of CO2 emissions from China and India
- snowpack—when annual Indian monsoon rains hit Tibet, they are converted into snow—which settles on glaciers and thus makes monsoon rain usable over long periods as a meltwater source
- permafrost—a vast underground layer of permafrost is located across the Tibetan plateau: it is in danger of thawing (where the railway to Lhasa has been constructed, the permafrost is thawing faster)
- rivers—source of nine major rivers of South Asia plus many tributaries: all rivers are now being dammed by Chinese engineering consortiums
- lakes—numbering in the thousands: many are drying up due to climate change, encroaching desertification and human interference
- wetlands—also drying up and receding
- groundwater & springs—pristine and little-exploited for now, although bottled spring water from Tibet is being shipped to mainland China
exTreeeme weather
The 2009 annual monsoon in India was the worst in four decades: too late, too little rain.
Tidal surges in Bangladesh at the same time are the highest ever seen. Cyclones battering the coast of Bangladesh and southern India are becoming more frequent—and more vicious. The period 2009-2010 saw the worst droughts in Thailand in five decades, huge duststorms hammering Beijing, and rapidly expanding desertification in northern China.
Coincidence? or are these factors related to drastic changes on the Tibetan Plateau itself?