Changes in Himalayan lake volume

New research reveals that ice being lost from glaciers that flow into lakes in the Himalayas has been significantly underestimated. This discovery has critical implications for predicting the demise of the region’s glaciers and for managing critical water resources.

The new findings, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, found that values of ice lost from Himalayan glaciers that terminate in lakes during 2000 to 2020 were, on average, underestimated by 6.5%. The Himalayas and many other mountains have thousands of proglacial lakes, many of which are rapidly expanding. Yet, the contribution of subaqueous mass loss to total glacier mass loss has been largely neglected – until now.

The map shows the changes in the volume of water held in lakes between 2000 and 2020. Orange indicates reduction in volume. The map shows the location of the Imja Tsho and Galong Co lakes.

Read full story: Revealing invisible Himalaya glacier loss