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Collapsing glaciers threaten Asia’s water supplies

Tracking moisture, snow and meltwater across the ‘third pole’ will help communities to plan for climate change, argue Jing Gao and colleagues.
  1. Jing Gao

    1. Jing Gao is an associate professor at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing; and at the CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing, China.

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  2. Tandong Yao

    1. Tandong Yao is a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); a professor at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS, Beijing; and at the CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing, China.

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  3. Valérie Masson-Delmotte

    1. Valérie Masson-Delmotte is a senior scientist at the Laboratory for Sciences of Climate and Environment (CEA-CNRS-UVSQ/IPSL), Gif-sur-Yvette, France.

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  4. Hans Christian Steen-Larsen

    1. Hans Christian Steen-Larsen is a senior researcher at the Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen; and at the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, Norway.

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  5. Weicai Wang

    1. Weicai Wang is an associate professor at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing; and at the CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing, China.

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A man crossing a hanging bridge in Nepal

The Tsho Rolpa valley in Nepal, where increased meltwater from glaciers in the Himalayas puts local communities at risk. Credit: Jonas Gratzer/LightRocket/Getty

The ‘third pole’ is the planet’s largest reservoir of ice and snow after the Arctic and Antarctic. It encompasses the Himalaya–Hindu Kush mountain ranges and the Tibetan Plateau. The region hosts the world’s 14 highest mountains and about 100,000 square kilometres of glaciers (an area the size of Iceland). Meltwater feeds ten great rivers, including the Indus, Brahmaputra, Ganges, Yellow and Yangtze, on which almost one-fifth of the world’s population depends1.

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Nature 565, 19-21 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-07838-4

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