The Tian Shan Mountains in Asia are losing their glacier mass at a faster rate than ever before and it does not appear to be slowing down.
According to Live Science, authors of a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience found the mountains lost about a quarter of their total mass over the last 50 years. The researchers project the mountains could lose up to half their total mass over the coming decades.
"Despite this importance, only little was known about how glaciers in this region changed over the last century" Daniel Farinotti, a glaciologist at the German Research Center for Geosciences and the study's principal investigator, said in a press release. "We combined various methods based on satellite gravimetry, laser altimetry and glaciological modeling.
"This way, we were able to reconstruct the evolution of every single glacier. Currently, the Tian Shan is losing ice at a pace that is roughly twice the annual water consumption of entire Germany."
The researchers were able to link the glacier loss to the warming climate, which has also been identified as a global issue.
"In central Asia, you have really dry winters, meaning glaciers do not get much snow then," Farinotti told Live Science. "During the summer, at higher elevations, it will snow. However, if you see increasing summer temperatures in central Asia, not only will you get increased melting, but you'll also reduce the amount of snow they'll get, for a double impact.
"In the long term, the only way people are going to save glaciers is to reduce the increase of global temperatures.
"Another way to deal with the decline in water supplies in this region is to improve irrigation practices there. Irrigation there dates back to the Soviet era 40 years ago, and increasing the efficiency of irrigation there could help grow crops even with less water."
