Global Warming

Central Asian glaciers shrinking fast

Central Asian glaciers have melted at four times the global average since the early 1960s, shedding 27 per cent of their mass, according to a study released today.

By 2050, warmer temperatures driven by climate change could wipe out half the remaining glacier ice in the Tien Shan mountain range, reported the study, published in Nature Geoscience.

At stake is a critical source of water for people in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, as well as a section of northwest China.

“Glaciers are actually huge water stores. They can balance water between wet and dry years,” said co-author Doris Duethmann, a researcher at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam.

Tien Shan glaciers have lost an average of 5.4 billion tonnes of ice per year since the 1960s, totalling some 3,000 square kilometres (1,158 square miles).

The rate at which the glaciers shrank greatly accelerated in the 1970s and 1980s.

Climate models point to higher summer temperatures in coming decades along the 2,500 kilometres of the Tien Shan range, thus making the glaciers even more vulnerable, the study said.

Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:

Typhoon Halola is located about 234 nm east-southeast of Kadena AB, Okinawa, Japan and is tracking west-northwestward at 08 knots.

Tropical depression 12w (twelve), located approximately 255 nm northeast of Manila, Philippines, is tracking east-southeastward at 03 knots.

Tropical Depression Felicia is located about 495 mi...795 km WSW of the southern tip of Baja California with maximum sustained winds...35 mph...55 km/h. Present movement...NW or 310 degrees at 12 mph...19 km/h.

NewsBytes:

Pakistan - Torrential rain and landslides in Azad Kashmir have killed at least nine people, emergency officials said on Thursday. This year's monsoon floods in Pakistan have claimed lives of at least 22 and washed away more than 200 buildings.

Central Asia - Floods across Central Asia over this past week are highlighting the perils of failing to adopt robust water-management measures and put adequate early-warning systems in place. Tajikistan has been the worst hit, with abnormally high temperatures causing rapid snow and glacier melts. The country is 93 percent covered by high mountains, making it particularly vulnerable to landslides and flash floods. Dozens of homes have been destroyed and at least a dozen people killed.

Environment

Massive Heat Wave Creates Subcontinental Inferno

Meteorologists in South Asia say that the recent heat that baked the region was only one factor in the high number of fatalities the brutal conditions caused.

Official death figures exceeded 3,000 across India and Pakistan before the onset of the southwest monsoon brought cooling and wet relief to many areas by late June.

A freak combination of low barometric pressure, oppressive humidity and an unusual lack of wind created the Indian subcontinent’s most deadly heat wave in three decades.

The Indian Meteorological Department said even coastal residents, who typically get relief from sea breezes late in the day, suffered into the night when those cooling winds did not kick in.

“We don't know what is driving those circulation patterns which are producing some kind of descending motion and maintaining the warm conditions,” said Indian climate expert R. Krishnan.

The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has long warned that heatwaves will become more extreme in South Asia.

Global Warming

Climate Change Threatens Food Security in Asia and Africa

Growing crops is predicted to become more difficult if not impossible in parts of Africa and Asia as global climate change shifts rainfall patterns and temperatures.

Millions of people across Africa and parts of Asia could become destitute and face a mounting threat of starvation in the coming decades as greenhouse gas-induced climate change shifts how and where crops can be grown.

That was one of the issues being discussed at an international conference in Dublin, convened to examine the link between food security and global warming.

Many researchers and activists there believe climate change may spell lower crop yields, higher food prices and widespread hunger later on in the 21st century.

As the climate of the Earth continues to change, there are concerns that extreme weather and changing seasonal precipitation patterns will limit both crop yields and livestock production.

Warmer weather may also exacerbate the spread of disease, fungi, and insect pests.

Some regions are already experiencing the effects of climate change, says Ertharin Cousin, executive director of the UN’s World Food Programme. Speaking in Ireland, she warned that “we are entering an uncertain and risky period.”

Disease

Biologists are working to contain an outbreak of avian botulism that has killed at least 2,000 birds in the North Portland wetlands, Oregon, USA.

100 whitetail deer have died near Janesville, in southern Wisconsin, USA in recent weeks from epizootic hemorrhagic disease.

Health officials in northern India report that a serious outbreak of Japanese encephalitis has infected hundreds of children. The viral brain disease, which can cause permanent disabilities and sometimes death, is a common seasonal disease in Asia.