The Effect of Global Warming on Himalayan Glaciers: Position Paper

A study of glacier-climate interaction in the Himalayas, where the Karakoram Anomaly (glaciers remaining stable or growing due to localized climatic conditions) confirms the difficulty and complexity of this research, which is the key to predicting our future.

I am conducting a research project about the effects of global warming on Himalayan glaciers. During my talk, I explained what is happening in that region and a peculiar effect that my group and I discovered. First of all, a brief introduction to the current situation. Figure 1 is taken from the IPCC report of 2023 [1] which tells us that the global mean temperature has increased by 1.1 degrees since the pre-industrial level. Perhaps 1.1°C does not seem like much, but in reality, a slight change in the global mean temperature has a big impact on the regional scale.

Download

Author

Luca Calciati

Luca Calciati has a degree in Condensed Matter Physics from the University of Milano-Bicocca and is currently a PhD candidate in Polar Sciences at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. Specializing in thermodynamics, he studies the processes that govern the interaction between glaciers and the atmosphere in the Himalayan region.