The entire region of the Indian subcontinent i.e. from Bangladesh to Nepal, South China and Afghanistan through India is facing calamities like incessant storms, floods and cloudbursts. Glaciologist Paul Makovsky says that the intensity of these events will increase in the coming time.
The reason is the rapid melting of the ice of the glaciers of the Arctic, Antarctic and Everest. Paul is the only glaciologist in the world to have studied climate change in all three regions. He is also the director of the world's oldest climate change institute, the University of Maine. Here are the edited excerpts…
The sources of moisture in India have been the regions of South and West. But for a few years, moisture is reaching India from the Arctic Pole as well. The reason for this is that the glaciers of the Arctic, Antarctic and Himalayas are being affected the most by climate change. While global warming in the world has been 1.5 degrees, warming in these regions has been measured up to 4 degrees. The snow is melting rapidly and the winds carrying its moisture are rapidly blowing north and south of the Himalayas.
When these cold winds collide with the warm winds of the low-lying areas, then a storm is formed. Therefore, the possibility of stormy rains and floods in India has started increasing. Due to the depletion of the forest, the rain is draining the land and filling the rivers. So even a little rain becomes a flood. As soon as the rain ends, the flow in the rivers stops completely and becomes dry.
In the 90s, we used to think that the impact of the changing environment would be felt by people in 50 to 90 years. But now it is expected to appear in 10 to 30 years. Do you not realize that the news of cloudburst has increased? A cloudburst means that the humidity is so high that the rain that falls during the day falls in a few hours. Glacial lakebursts will increase in the Himalayan regions.
Snow absorbs pollution like a sponge. Rivers are getting contaminated by toxic elements collected in the glacier, those who drink their water are getting sick. At the same time, the color of the snow has started turning gray. Instead of dissipating the heat of the atmosphere, it remains in the snow for a long time which is speeding up the melting of ice. Due to this, snowfall is getting more rain in the Himalayan region.
There can be no vaccine for this problem, the only solution is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As long as the definition of wealth does not change and climate does not become a political issue, the problem will remain.
Millions of tons of methane gas are deposited under the glacier ice. If methane is introduced into the atmosphere by melting a layer of ice called permafrost, it can increase the ability of the atmosphere to retain heat by 30 to 50 times. If the world's ice cover melts due to increasing heat, the sea level will rise by 70 meters. Those who do not live close to the sea will have to face severe droughts, forest fires and dust storms.
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