India and China in warming study

BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | India and China in warming study

This is a joint effort of two countries to study the effect of global warming on glaciers in Himalaya/Hindu Kush region.  The melt of glaciers in this area is expected to bring flood to River Brahmaputra and River Sutlej in short term, and disappearance of the two rivers in a farther future.

The significance of this study is evident: it involves an area that is controlling the climate system in the southern Asia-Pacific region and a large portion of world's population.  It is also the only large scale charting survey of the area in about 100 years.  It can be expected that the study will provide evidence of climate change and perhaps raise people's awareness of global warming crisis.  However, I cannot deduce any further meanings from the information I have.  A study providing an action plan may be more suitable.  This requires more information on the area's demographical and ecological data so as to identify human activities' effect on the system.  My current research is not directly related to this idea but my experience from it may help me in future in similar projects.

The composition of the expedition team is not told in this story, but I hope they have ecologists and human geographers in the team as well as physical geographers.