Forgot your password? Earth Science  Black Soot May Be Aiding
Melting In the Himalayas 336  Posted by kdawson from the not-
yeti dept. Hugh Pickens writes "The Himalayas, home to some
10,000 glaciers, are the main source of replenishment to lakes,
streams, and some of the continent's mightiest rivers, on which
millions of people depend for their water supplies. Since the
1960s, the acreage covered by Himalayan glaciers has declined by
more than 20 percent with a rate of warming twice the global
average over the past 30 years. Now Live Science reports that
tiny particles of pollution known as 'black carbon' — and not
heat-trapping greenhouse gases — may be causing much of the
rapid melting of glaciers in the Himalayas. 'Tibet's glaciers
are retreating at an alarming rate,' says James Hansen, director
of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City.
'Black soot is probably responsible for as much as half of the
glacial melt, and greenhouse gases are responsible for the
rest.' The circulation of th