NATIONAL CENTRE ON HIMALAYAN GLACIOLOGY SOON
The Government
proposes to set up soon a National Centre for Field Operations
and Research on Himalayan Glaciology (NCFOR-HG). The proposal
forms a part of the 10th Plan Programme of the Department
of Science and Technology. The Centre will provide administrative,
infrastructural and technical support to glaciological studies
in the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra basins. While concretising
the details of this new initiative, expert opinion of the community
of glaciologists in the country, regarding the activities of Glaciology
Research Centre, Moscow and Lanzhon Institute of Glaciology and
Geo-cryology, China, were taken into account.
The Department
of Science and Technology had initiated a multi-disciplinary and
multi-institutional, nationally coordinated programme on Himalayan
Glaciology in the early eighties of the last century. This was
to create a strong R&D base in the country for studying different
aspects of Himalayan glaciers including snow melt run-off and
mass balance studies. Under this programme several specific research
projects, including field observations were funded. The Geological
Survey of India has also been carrying out studies on Himalayan
Glaciers, including field surveys.
The studies
carried out under these programmes so far indicate that the glaciers
in the Himalayan region are passing through a phase of recession.
The recession of glaciers is a natural process, sensitive to climatic
fluctuation wherein the rise in global average temperature (called
global warming) results in melting of the glaciers in extents
varying with their locations as well as seasons. But no evidence
that links global warming to the melting of the Himalayan Glacier
is available.
