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DAM-L Re: Melting Glaciers for Water? (fwd)
----- Forwarded message from Stefan Thiesen -----
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Message-ID: <B7107723.2B6%stefan@mindquest.de>
Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2001 15:04:32 +0200
Reply-To: The Florida Center for Environmental Studies Dialog-Agua-L
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From: Stefan Thiesen <stefan@MINDQUEST.DE>
Subject: Re: Melting Glaciers for Water?
To: DIALOG-AGUA-L@CENTAURI.CES.FAU.EDU
In-Reply-To: <3AE04A66.2070803@emi.net>
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Dear collegues,
some spontanous thoughts about the "melting glaciers for water" issue.
Melting glaciers for Water-supply involves numerous risks and uncertainties
that need to be studied carefully. Some were already listed in the posting
below (like the destabilization of slopes etc.), others may be much further
reaching. In my eyes, the main question is, whether this would be a
long-term sustainable approach or whether it may actually just be a short
term technofix that actually increases the existing problems in the long run
and adds new ones. One concern may be local climate. Blackening large areas
of Glaciers reduces the Earth's albedo locally and increases IR radiation
forcing of the atmosphere which locally would get slightly warmer. This
again may result in changing weather patterns and even lower precipitation
as occurs now. In the long run, this approach may even contribute to global
warming and locally the result may be an even higher desertification rate.
It would require thorough research to determine if an increased vegetation
cover (farming with water from Glaciers) would sufficiently counteract these
effects.
Many other problems exist that only can be determined on-site.
regards
Stefan Thiesen, Germany
am 20.04.2001 16:40 Uhr schrieb Alberto J. Palombo unter apalombo@EMI.NET:
> Interesting news from the field. Sorry for any cross-postings
> ****************************************************************
>
> ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Drought-hit Pakistan is desperate enough for water
> that officials are examining the possibility of melting glaciers.
>
> With rains well below normal and reservoirs filling at less than half
> the rate they should, the military government of General Pervez
> Musharraf has asked the national weather office to look at the
> possibility of melting glaciers in northern mountains.
>
> "We have not yet completed our study, but up to now we have gathered
> that, yes, practically maybe, it can be done by spraying some black
> carbon on the snow, the glaciers," Qamar-Uz-Zaman Chaudhry, director
> general of the meteorological office, said on Wednesday.
>
> "They will absorb more radiation and the snow melt can be increased 10
> or 15 percent."
>
> However, Chaudhry made clear he saw potential pitfalls in speeding up
> the melting rate of glaciers, which have been a major source of water
> for the arid country each spring and summer for thousands of years.
>
> "There are many other factors that require even more detailed and deeper
> study before undertaking any such activity because there are a lot of
> environmental hazards in this," he said in an interview with Reuters
> Television.
>
> He said speeding up the melting of glaciers in the mountains of the
> Himalayan, Hindu Kush and Karakoram ranges could possibly destabilize
> glaciers, block rivers and lead to flooding.
>
> "So right now it is premature to say anything final on this subject," he
> said.
>
> Source: (C) Reuters, Friday, April 20, 2001
>
> *******************************************************************
> MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!!
>
> Fourth Inter-American Dialogue on Water Management
> Foz de Iguazu, Brazil - September 2-6, 2001
> http://www.iwrn.net
>
> Water Information Summit IV
> Panama City, Panama - October 25-27, 2001
> http://www.waterweb.org/wis/wis4/
>
> *******************************************************************
>
> Alberto J. Palombo
> Florida Center for Environmental Studies
> +1 561-361-6847 voice
> +1 561-361-6897 telefax
> apalombo@ces.fau.edu
> http://www.ces.fau.edu
>
>
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