What does new glacier data mean for the climate debate? [View all]

[Snake Alchemist]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Hutzpa (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

The rivers and glaciers that descend from the steep slopes of the Himalaya mountain range help to provide water for the 1.4 billion people that live in its shadow. Any interruption in this flow could have severe implications in a region blighted by political tension and poverty.

A paper published in the science journal Nature this week which revealed that there has been no appreciable loss of ice from the region's glaciers over the past decade has been met with relief and surprise. The findings have also been greeted with delight by climate sceptics who have long viewed claims made about the melting of Himalayan glaciers as unfounded and alarmist.

The study's authors used data obtained between 2003 and 2010 from the twin Grace satellites to detect and record any tiny, regional shifts in the Earth's gravitational field. A decline in ice mass resulted in a reduction of this pull as they orbited the planet.

The study was the first ever attempt made using satellite data to create a detailed, region-by-region picture of the planet's 20 largest glaciers and ice caps (GICs . Previously, GICs have largely been monitored on the ground with the data being extrapolated from just a handful of sites to provide a conclusion about the state of a wider region's ice mass. Of the world's 160,000 glaciers, only 120 had ever been directly measured before this new study – and only 37 had an archive of measurements stretching back more than 30 years. The physical terrain and travel restrictions in the Himalayas have made it notoriously hard for scientists to monitor ice levels in the area meaning most measurements have been obtained from lower altitude glaciers which are far more vulnerable to climate change.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/10/glacier-data-climate-change-debate

Maybe some of the measures we've put in place are having some effect?