Richard Tafoya
Apr 21st, 2008, 08:18 PM
LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-floods20apr20,1,7051722.story
High in the Himalayas, above this peaceful valley where farmers till a patchwork of emerald-green fields, an icy lake fed by melting glaciers waits to become a "tsunami from the sky."
The lake is swollen dangerously past normal levels, thanks to the global warming that is causing the glaciers to retreat at record speed. But no one knows when the tipping point will come and the lake can take no more, bursting its banks and sending torrents of water crashing into the valley below.
...
"The winters are not so cold. The hot season is arriving much earlier," Tshering said. "Even fruit trees that would not fruit in Thimphu, that people just planted as ornamental flowers, are now starting to fruit."
Less benign are diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, common in the lower-lying, warmer south, which are now appearing at higher altitudes.
...
But possibly the most dramatic effect of global warming on Bhutan can be seen in its glaciers -- or, perhaps more accurately, not seen.
On satellite images taken in 2000 and 2001, some of the smaller ice sheets along Bhutan's 200-mile stretch of the Himalayas could no longer be found, according to a report last year by the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development and the U.N. Environment Program.
Experts estimate that Bhutan's glaciers are retreating by as much as 100 feet annually. The loss has grave consequences for the country's long-term development: Bhutan relies heavily on selling hydroelectric power, which accounts for about a third of national revenue.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-floods20apr20,1,7051722.story
High in the Himalayas, above this peaceful valley where farmers till a patchwork of emerald-green fields, an icy lake fed by melting glaciers waits to become a "tsunami from the sky."
The lake is swollen dangerously past normal levels, thanks to the global warming that is causing the glaciers to retreat at record speed. But no one knows when the tipping point will come and the lake can take no more, bursting its banks and sending torrents of water crashing into the valley below.
...
"The winters are not so cold. The hot season is arriving much earlier," Tshering said. "Even fruit trees that would not fruit in Thimphu, that people just planted as ornamental flowers, are now starting to fruit."
Less benign are diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, common in the lower-lying, warmer south, which are now appearing at higher altitudes.
...
But possibly the most dramatic effect of global warming on Bhutan can be seen in its glaciers -- or, perhaps more accurately, not seen.
On satellite images taken in 2000 and 2001, some of the smaller ice sheets along Bhutan's 200-mile stretch of the Himalayas could no longer be found, according to a report last year by the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development and the U.N. Environment Program.
Experts estimate that Bhutan's glaciers are retreating by as much as 100 feet annually. The loss has grave consequences for the country's long-term development: Bhutan relies heavily on selling hydroelectric power, which accounts for about a third of national revenue.