Asia's greatest snow-capped peaks
Asia's greatest snow-capped peaksAsia's greatest snow-capped peaks – including the Himalayas – have lost no ice over the last decade, new research has revealed.The discovery has stunned scientists, who had believed that each year around 50bn tonnes of meltwater were being shed from mountains running from the Himalayas to Tian Shan on the border between Kyrgyzstanand China, and not being replaced by new snowfall.The new study reveals a "huge discrepancy" between, according to Bristol University glaciologist Prof Jonathan Bamber, who was not part of the research team. "The very unexpected result was the negligible mass loss from high mountain Asia, which it is not significantly different from zero."The melting of Himalayan glaciers caused controversy in 2009 when a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change mistakenly stated that they would disappear by 2035, instead of 2350. However, the scientist who led the new work is clear...
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