Tibet's glaciers in danger of disappearing

[The Straight Story]

Tibet's glaciers in danger of disappearing


BEIJING, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Tibet's glaciers are melting at an alarming rate, scientists say.

Black soot is probably responsible for as much as half of the glacial melt and greenhouse gases responsible for the rest, according to research announced Tuesday by NASA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"During the last 20 years, the black soot concentration has increased two- to three-fold relative to its concentration in 1975," said Junji Cao, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and a coauthor of the paper.

Most soot in the region comes from diesel engines, coal-fired power plants and outdoor cooking stoves. Soot absorbs incoming solar radiation and can speed glacial melting when deposited on snow in sufficient quantities.

Temperatures on the Tibetan Plateau -- sometimes called the "third pole" because it contains the largest repository of ice outside the arctic and antarctic -- have warmed 0.5 degrees Fahrenheit per decade over the past 30 years. That's about twice the rate of global temperature increases.

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2009/12/15/Tibets-glaciers-in-danger-of-disappearing/UPI-79851260920600/