Javascript Other reports in this collection 10.2.1.5. Projected warming of the climate would reduce the area and volume of the cryosphere. This reduction would have significant impacts on related ecosystems, people, and their livelihoods. There could be pronounced reductions in seasonal snow, permafrost, glaciers, and periglacial belts, with a corresponding shift in landscape processes. As warming occurs for many Asian mountains, there is a tendency for rainfall to occur at the expense of snowfall, although the extent of this shift depends on location.
Glaciers are more sensitive to changes in temperature than to any other climatic element.
For Asian glaciers, where precipitation occurs mainly during the summer monsoon season, temperature rise has a double effect. The first effect is an increase in the absorption of solar radiation caused by a lowering of the surface albedo, as snowfall is converted to rainfall. Both effects lead to an increase in glacial melting. By 2050, up to a quarter of mountain glacier mass may have melted. However, the largest alpine glaciers such as those found in the Pamirs, the Tien Shan, and the Himalayas are expected to continue to exist into the 22nd century.