Back to news
14 Dec 2015 | Press releases

Glaciers reveal mountain precipitation is twice as high-Himalayan snowfall underestimated

2 mins Read

70% Complete

The amount of snow and rain in the Himalaya is about twice as high as commonly assumed. Research in the Indus basin by scientists from Utrecht University, FutureWater and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) led to the discovery. These findings have important bearing for water management and climate change impact assessments.

The Himalayas and adjacent mountain ranges are an important source of water for more than 25% of the global population. However, it is unknown how much snow and rain falls in those vast mountain ranges, because of the lack of observations and the inaccessibility of the terrain. Understanding how much water is available in the source areas of Asia’s large river is of crucial importance.

Let the glaciers tell the story
“The upper Indus is supposedly very dry, yet the largest glaciers outside the Polar Regions are located in the upper Indus and that seemed contradicting and gave us the idea for this study“, explains Walter Immerzeel of Utrecht University and visiting scientist at ICIMOD, who led the study. “We calculated how much precipitation is required to sustain those large glaciers and the results were spectacular. In the most extreme case a more than tenfold amount of snow is required than what was previously thought”. In order to derive this information the researchers combined satellite observations, a computer model and observations from the ground.

The rivers confirm the findings
“In the absence of snow and rain measurements at high altitude in the Indus we needed another way to confirm our findings” says Immerzeel. “We use observations of river flow and the results confirmed that the amount of water in the rivers can only be explained if the amount of snow and rain is as high as we estimated”.

Impact for water management
The Indus basin irrigation scheme is the largest in the world and it is fed primarily by melt water. “Since so much of the food production in the Indus depends on glaciers and snow, this shows again how sensitive this area is to climate change”, says Marc Bierkens, professor of Hydrology at Utrecht University. “Our findings will have important bearing on climate change impact studies and water management in this important transboundary river basin.”

Publication
Immerzeel, W. W., Wanders, N., Lutz, A. F., Shea, J. M. & Bierkens, M. F. P. Reconciling high altitude precipitation with glacier mass balances and runoff. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 12, 4755–4784 (2015). doi: 10.5194/hess-19-4673-2015

For more information contact:
Utrecht University

Dr W.W. Immerzeel, Assistant Professor
Utrecht University, Faculty of Geosciences
Tel: +31302533888 Cell:+31681013731
E-mail: w.w.immerzeel@uu.nl

FutureWater

Arthur Lutz, Hydrologist
Tel +31 6 19687612, E-mail: a.lutz@futurewater.nl

ICIMOD

Dr Joseph Michael Shea
Glacier Hydrologist
E-mail: joseph.shea@icimod.org

Nira Gurung
Senior Communications Officer, ICIMOD
Tel +977-1-5003222 Fax +977-1-5003277
E-mail: Nira.Gurung@icimod.org

Stay current

Stay up to date on what’s happening around the HKH with our most recent publications and find out how you can help by subscribing to our mailing list.

Sign Up

Related contents

Continue exploring this topic

1 Mar 2020 Press releases
High and dry: New study warns of looming water insecurity in Himalayan towns

Press release for immediate release High and dry: New study warns of looming water insecurity in Himalayan towns March 1, 2020, ...

10 Jun 2019 Press releases
The heritage gap

Currently, there are only 17 inscribed World Heritage sites in a region covering eight countries, four Global Biodiversity Hotspots, and ...

15 May 2018 Press releases
Forty-ninth ICIMOD Board of Governors meeting

ICIMOD works for the advancement of mountain people in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. It is governed by its BoG, ...

14 Jun 2019 Shifting cultivation
Managing the shifts in shifting cultivation

Saraswat also cautioned against a narrow sectoral approach. The transitions must be enabled by research and development that is contextual, ...

12 Nov 2021 HKH2Glasgow
The time to act is now: There are mountains of opportunity for climate action in the HKH

9 November 2021, Glasgow, Scotland, UK In a high-level event at the ongoing 26th session of the Conference of Parties (COP26) of ...

15 Dec 2020 Press releases
Honouring mountain champions

Kathmandu, 11 December 2020 Every year, the ICIMOD Mountain Prize is awarded to an individual, organization, or private sector entity based ...

20 Dec 2019 Press releases
In service of mountains and people

Breaker of taboos Didar Ali, one of the founding members of the Bulbulik Heritage Centre in Gulmit, Gilgit-Baltistan Pakistan, has dedicated himself to ...

23 Feb 2024 Press releases
MoALD teams up with ICIMOD to boost agricultural planning and monitoring

Kathmandu, 12 February 2024 - The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Department (MoALD) in Nepal and The International Centre for ...