The movement of these large bodies of snow and ice under the force of gravity has carved up the Himalaya and created an alpine wonderland of wide valleys, glacial lakes, sheer rock faces and thick accumulations of glacial debris. The melting of these same glaciers produces the lifeblood of fresh water for great south Asian rivers such as the Ganges and the Indus, upon which hundreds of millions of people depend.
Glaciers also serve as a barometer of our everchanging climate.
In their cycles of advance and retreat, they respond to changes in temperature and precipitation. The fluctuations of past and present glaciers serve as a valuable recorder of change within the climate system. Glacial Retreat Direct observation of the positions of the snouts of a select few of the thousands of Himalayan glaciers indicates that they have been in a general state of decline over at least the past 150 years. Recent observations furthermore suggest that the rate of retreat has been increasing in the past decade. This is most likely due to the observed temperature increases of 1-2CO in the Himalaya over the past twenty years, although decreases in summertime precipitation also appear to play a key role for some glaciers.