The impact of climate change is being felt in Kashmir as snowfall has lowered over the years and glaciers are losing mass leading to reduced flows in Chenab, Jhelum and Indus. A recent research has highlighted that Srinagar is facing one of the highest black carbon (caused due to incomplete combustion of fossil fuel) pollution, nearly as much as in Delhi (The capital of India), one of the most polluted cities in the world.

According to Shakil A Romshoo,who is the head of the department of earth sciences, loss of glaciers in Upper Indus Basin i.e. the Hindu Kush Himalayas, Karakoram and the Himalayan mountain ranges could be highest among those in the Kashmir valley.

Romshoo and Khalid Omar Murtaza studied the health of nine "benchmark" glaciers in Kashmir Himalayas between 1980 and 2013. The data analysis showed the glaciers in Lidder valley have shrunk by 17%. The annual air temperature has shown increasing trends while a slight decrease in precipitation has also been noticed.

The total glaciated area of the nine benchmark glaciers in 1980 was 29.01 sq.km which reduced to 23.81 sq.km in 2013. However, the melting of glaciers has not raised the water level in the rivers. It depends where you are measuring the discharge and in what climate system. If the catchment area has 100% glacier cover, then higher melting will lead to higher discharge. But such catchments hardly exist. As glacier cover decreases, flow regime is controlled by precipitation. Higher melting is linked to reduced snow cover which covers a wider area in high altitude catchment. So reduced snow cover and precipitation is leading to reduced discharge downstream

Smaller glaciers lost more area, the research shows. "It is evident that if this trend of recession continues into the next few decades, it may pose a serious threat to the availability of water for irrigation, hydropower, horticulture and recreational use," the study concluded.

The highest (13.6 micrograms per cubic metres) and the lowest (3.4 micrograms per cubic metres) mean monthly BC concentration were in November and April respectively. This is accentuated by lack of centralized heating or renewable sources of heating which pushes people to burn coal in their traditional kangris and burn other biomass for heat.

 

Scientists from Pakistan, Afghanistan and China also shared climate change impacts on their share of Indus. The scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences said there was significant impact of climate change being seen in receding glaciers in the Tibetan Plateau.

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Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/global-warming/kashmir-glaciers-shrinking-rapidly-says-study/articleshow/60051698.cms