Collaborative Research: Climate and Glacier change in Bhutan: the last millennia, present and future

该提案将提供关于不丹王国、东南季风喜马拉雅地区过去、现在和未来冰川和气候变化的可靠信息，并有助于为决策者和减缓战略人员提供一个更可靠的科学平台。了解冰川因气候变化而退缩的速度，对于预测未来行为，进而为社会设计适应和减缓战略至关重要。然而，这一比率仍然受到很差的限制。不丹的福利与冰川动态有关，因为水力发电和农业灌溉都是由冰川融化提供燃料的。冰川融化和陡峭的地形使冰川湖爆发洪水成为不丹及其喜马拉雅邻国社会的主要威胁，而潜在的危害严重取决于当前和未来的冰川融化。这是一个综合研究和教育项目，结合地貌学、地质年代学、古温度学、冰川学和冰川模型来重建过去千年的冰川和气候变化，并预测下个世纪喜马拉雅冰川的变化。这是一个多学科的专家团队，他们在喜马拉雅冰川和气候问题上有着丰富的经验，其中包括一名主要本科院校的女初级教师和一名特殊需求的MS学生。这是一个美国-不丹的双边研究和教育计划，水文服务部/经济部（DHMS）是不丹的官方合作伙伴，乌干达旺楚克保护与环境研究所（UWICE）是教育合作伙伴。不丹学生将接受地貌测绘（远程和实地测绘）和树木年轮技术方面的培训。Lamont-Doherty地球天文台将接待UWICE的学生，DHMS和哥伦比亚大学地球研究所将接待UWICE的科学家。

This proposal will provide robust information about past, present and future glacier and climate change in the Kingdom of Bhutan, in the southeastern monsoonal Himalayas, and contribute to a more robust scientific platform for decision makers and mitigation strategists. Knowing the rate of glacier retreat in response to climate change is fundamental for any prediction of future behavior and in turn to design adaption and mitigation strategies for societies. However, this rate remains poorly constrained. Bhutan's welfare is linked to glacier dynamics because hydropower generation and agricultural irrigation are fueled by glacier melt. Melting glaciers and the steep relief have made glacial lake outburst floods a prime hazard for the societies of Bhutan and its Himalayan neighbors, and the hazard potential critically depends on current and future glacier melt.This is an integrated research and education project, combining geomorphology, geochronology, paleo-thermometry, glaciology, and glacier modeling to reconstruct glacier and climate change over the last millennia, and to predict Himalayan glacier change over the next century. This is a multi-disciplinary team of experts with broad experience in Himalayan glacier and climate problems, including a female junior faculty at a primarily undergraduate institution and a special-needs MS student. This is a US-Bhutan bilateral research and educational proposal, with the Department of Hydromet Services/Ministry of Economic Affairs (DHMS) as the official Bhutanese collaborator, and with the Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Environment (UWICE) as the educational partner. Bhutanese students will train in geomorphic mapping (remote and field based) and tree-ring techniques. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory will host UWICE students and DHMS and Columbia University's Earth Institute will host UWICE scientists.