U.S.-Japan Cooperative Science: Computer-Aided Study of the Rapid Shrinkage of Glaciers in the Himalaya

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9726704 Raymond This award supports a three year collaborative research project between Professor Charles Raymond of the University of Washington and Professor Masayoshi Nakawo of the University of Nagoya in Japan. The researchers will undertake a computer-aided study of the rapid shrinkage of glaciers in the Himalaya. Glaciers are retreating especially rapidly in many tropical and sub-tropical mountain regions. Over the last two decades, glaciers in the Himalaya show mass balance rates that are amongst the most negative of any region of the world. The losses of glacier mass are indicative of climate warming over the last half century. However, quantitative interpretation of the retreats in terms of past climate changes requires elucidation of the processes that relate the masses and lengths of glaciers to climate. The researchers will use a combination of models that predict the mass balance of a glacier from climate input and the redistribution of ice mass by glacier flow. The mass balance models will be based on field observation, by the Japanese, of environmental characteristics peculiar to the Himalaya. These include accumulation predominantly in the summer and retardation of melting by extensive thick covers of rock debris. The glacier geophysics group at Washington will aid in the adaptation of ice flow models to the Himalayan glaciers under study. *** This project brings together the efforts of two groups that have complimentary expertise and research capabilities. Results of the research should quantify the significance of the disappearance of glaciers as an important indicator of global climate change. The results should also help indicate the degree to which the shrinkage of debris covered glaciers can pose flood hazards for down-stream areas. Through the exchange of ideas and technology, this project will broaden our base of basic knowledge and promote international understanding and cooperation.