Running against a stream of mounting evidence that Himalayan glaciers, like others elsewhere in the world, are melting due to global warming, a report in the 10 August issue of Current Science journal has said that the Siachen glacier has not been affected by the rise in global temperatures.


Climate change: The Siachen glacier. The latest study claims annual weather variations and not global warming are causing the melting. Photo: Current Science


Based on field studies in the summer of 2008, authors M.N. Koul and R.K. Ganjoo of the Regional Centre for Field Operations and Research on Himalayan glaciology at the University of Jammu, said: “Overwhelming field geo-morphological evidences suggest poor response of the Siachen glacier to global warming.”

It’s annual weather variations and not global warming that are causing the melting of the Siachen glacier in north-western Himalayas, they said.

According to this study, the snout, or the lowest end of the glacier, has retreated by about 8-10m since 1995, amounting to an average retreat of 0.6m a year. On the east side, the Siachen glacier shows fast withdrawal of the snout, which is essentially due to ice calving—the sudden release and breaking away of a mass of ice from a glacier—and is true for almost all major glaciers in the Himalayas and happens irrespective of global warming. On the west, the glacier has reduced due to the melting water coming from a retreated tributary glacier.

“The Siachen glacier shows hardly any retreat in its middle part and thus defies the hype,” the authors wrote. Their claim is in response to a study published earlier this year by researchers of the Kumaun University in Nainital, Uttarakhand, which said that there is geological evidence to show that the Siachen glacier has retreated by almost half in the past few decades due to global warming.

Seasoned glaciologists, however, don’t concur with the latest findings.

“Ganjoo’s observation is suspect as another study in the north-western Himalayas by some Defence Research and Development Organization scientists have shown that the temperature is rising,” said D.P. Dobhal, a glaciologist at the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology in Dehradun, who studies two Himalayan glaciers, including the Dokrianai glacier.

Dobhal doubted the findings of this study as he thinks Ganjoo hasn’t “studied the region long enough” and one seasonal field study is not sufficient to make “such overarching claims”. “You need long-term data to come to any conclusion,” he said.

Another glaciologist, Sayed Iqbal Hasnain at The Energy and Research Institute in New Delhi, who has set up a weather station in Kashmir to study the Kolahoi glacier, rubbished Ganjoo’s study because it lacks “scientific data”.

“The snout of a glacier is not the right metric to study the change. The mass of the glacier, which changes due to the (ice) accumulation, needs to be studied, ideally via satellite and optical sensors,” he said.

India has never undertaken any systematic study of any glacier, hence, has no benchmark glacier till date for long-term studies, said Hasnain.

But under environment minister Jairam Ramesh, a white paper on the Himalayan glaciers has been prepared, which Hasnain is reviewing

THE WINTER this year was unusually long and harsh. What possibly could explain the occurrence of unusual cold wave conditions this year throughout the globe when environmentalists voicing their concerns about the human-led global warming had predicted that the rise in carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere would result in shorter winters with no significant dip in the mercury? Was this winter an exception to the rule or is it simply following a trend? After all, studies conducted by a small group of ‘sceptic’ scientists reveal that global warming has been waning since 2001. Latest studies supported by satellite data cast doubt on the climate fears propounded by environmentalists supported by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Satellite measurements available since 1979 show no warming in the southern hemisphere and the trend in the northern hemisphere appears to have waned since 2001. In August 2007, the UK Met Office acknowledged that obvious global warming had stopped. Paleo-climate scientist Bob Carter testifying before the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has noted that the accepted global average temperature statistics used by IPCC show no ground-based warming has occurred since 1998. A research led by David Bromwich, Professor of Atmospheric Science in the Department of Geography at Ohio State University and researchers with the Byrd Polar Research Centre at Ohio State University shows that during the late 20th century, the temperature in Antarctica did not rise to the level predicted by many global warming models. According to UN scientist Madhav L. Khandekar, a retired Environment Canada scientist and an expert IPCC reviewer in 2007, the recent worldwide analysis of ocean surface temperatures shows that sea surface temperatures over world oceans are slowly declining since mid-1998.

While the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is steadily rising from 280 ppm and might reach 560 ppm by 2100 as predicted by IPCC, the world’s average temperature, instead of following a steep upward gradient, is actually plunging after a period of upward trend. However, the IPCC is not coming out publicly with the truth surrounding the correlation between rise in carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere and its possible consequence on global warming, if any. A study by researchers of the Atmospheric Science Group, Department of Mathematical Science, at the University of Wisconsin, found that global warming in the last century was linked to natural causes. The Royal Meteorological Institute at Brussels in its report last year said that not carbon dioxide but the most important greenhouse gas was water vapour; it was responsible for 75 per cent of the greenhouse effect. According to Belgian climate scientist Lu Debontridder, the warm winters of the last few years in Belgium are simply due to the North-Atlantic oscillation that has absolutely nothing to do with carbon dioxide. A study published in Science last September found that contrary to past inferences from ice core records, carbon dioxide did not cause the end of the last ice age. According to the same study, deep-sea temperatures warmed about 1,300 years before the tropical surface ocean and well before the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide. USC geologist Lowell Scot, the lead author of the study, said that the climate dynamics are much more complex than simply saying that carbon dioxide rises and the temperature warms.

The IPCC climate model is based on the assumption that increased warming would cause more rainfall that would produce more clouds on the higher reaches of the atmosphere. Since high clouds have a net warming effect this would cause more warming, more rainfall and the cycle will continue. It is this positive feedback that causes the UN climate models to predict a temperature rise in the range of 2.5 degree Celsius to 4.7 degree Celsius due to rise in the level of carbon dioxide to 560 ppm. Dr Roy Spencer along with researchers at the University of Alabama Huntsville and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California, after observing the temperatures, clouds and rainfall reported that warming is actually associated with fewer high clouds.
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There is no data to support the theory that more rainfall will produce more high-altitude clouds.

The mainstream media seems to be purposely ignoring the bulk of the findings by renowned researchers throughout the globe that the current global warming fear attributed solely to carbon dioxide rise is utterly unfounded. Why is the IPCC, which has been blamed for relying on climate models based on wrong assumptions, continuing with its false prophecy? Is there more to it than what meets the eye? Has the politics of carbon trade got anything to do with it? Critics say that carbon trading as propounded by IPCC, as a mean to combat global warming is a smokescreen. It will allow corporate polluters in rich countries to evade their emission reduction obligations at home by buying up and trading carbon emission quotas and credits from other countries, projects or industries. It is meant to create further global economic disparities by robbing the poor of their rights while the rich will manage to extract maximum benefit from the mechanism.

The term solar panel is best applied to a flat solar thermal collector, such as a solar hot water or air panel used to heat water, air, or otherwise collect solar thermal energy. But 'solar panel' may also refer to a photovoltaic module which is an assembly of solar cells used to generate electricity. In all cases, the panels are typically flat, and are available in various heights and widths.

An array is an assembly of solar-thermal panels or photovoltaic (PV) modules; the panels can be connected either in parallel or series depending upon the design objective. Solar panels typically find use in residential, commercial, institutional, and light industrial applications.


Solar-thermal panels saw widespread use in Florida and California until the 1920's when tank-type water heaters replaced them. A thriving manufacturing business died seemingly overnight. However, solar-thermal panels are still in production, and are common in portions of the world where energy costs, and solar energy availability, are high.

Recently there has been a surge toward large scale production of PV modules. In parts of the world with significantly high insolation levels, PV output and their economics are enhanced. PV modules are the primary component of most small-scale solar-electric power generating facilities. Larger facilities, such as solar power plants typically contain an array of reflectors (concentrators), a receiver, and a thermodynamic power cycle, and thus use solar-thermal rather than PV.

The largest solar panel in the world is under construction in the south of Portugal. A 52,000 photovoltaic module, 11-megawatt facility covering a 60-hectare south-facing hillside in the southern Alentejo region and it will produce electricity for 21,000 households.

Global warming is the phenomenon in which there has been an increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere and oceans in last few decades, and its predictable extension. The increase in the earth’s average temperature can further cause other alterations, including an increasing sea level and alterations in the quantity and model of precipitation. These alterations may raise the incidence and concentration of tremendous weather proceedings, such as floods, famines, heat waves, storms, and cyclones. Other costs can comprise of higher or lower farming yields, glacier withdrawals, lesser summer stream flows, genus extinctions and boosting in the ranges of sickness vectors.

Al Gore was one of the foremost U.S. politicians to heave an alarm about the hazards of global warming. He has produced a significantly acclaimed documentary movie called "An Inconvenient Truth," and written a book that archives his advice that Earth is dashing toward an immensely warmer future. Al Gore, the former vice president of United States has given various speeches to raise an awareness of global warming. He has warned people about the ill effects of Global warming and its remedies.

Al Gore has been studying climate of the globe for about thirty years. According to Al Gore, the climatic calamity is, indeed, tremendously hazardous. In fact it is a real earthly crisis. In more then hundred countries, two thousand scientists are working for more than twenty years in the most intricate and ordered scientific partnerships in the history of humanity to study the crisis. It is very important that proper heed is paid towards the global warming problem. Al Gore in his book and his documentary has warned that unless we get alert quickly to deal with the fundamental reasons of global warming, our world will experience a thread of awful calamities, including more and stronger hurricanes like the one Katrina, in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. Al Gore has insisted on the fact that it is due the global warming that the North Polar ice cap and all the mountain glaciers in world will finally melt down in a few decades from now.

Al Gore has illustrated the various reasons of global warming in his documentary and the book. The amount of carbon dioxide that is being dumped in the environment has literally changed the relationship between the earth and the sun. So much of that CO2 is being engrossed into the oceans that if we carry on at the present rate we will increase the saturation of calcium carbonate to levels that will stop formation of corals and impede with the making of shells by any sea creature.

Al Gore has insisted that it is a dire need that we take proper steps to cut down global warming. The growing of switch grass and saw grass should be encouraged. Switching to a greater extent on ethanol, cellulosic ethanol, butanol, and green diesel fuels can also reduce global warming pollution. On a universal basis, about more than two trillion tons of the 10 trillion tons of CO2 emitted each year comes from flaming the forests. So, improved organization of forests is one of the single most significant strategies for solving the climate disaster. Sources like wind energy, solar energy should be made in common use. Al Gore has warned the people that if proper steps are not taken today against global warming, it will get too late to do anything.

Greenhouse gases are the ingredients of the atmosphere that add to the greenhouse effect. Some greenhouse gases are present naturally in the atmosphere, whereas few green house gases a consequence of human activity. The greenhouse gases that are present in the atmosphere naturally include water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane and ozone. There are a few human activities, which increase the levels of most of these naturally occurring gases. The concentration of various green house effect gases has substantially increased in the recent times.

Greenhouse gases, which are the major cause of global warming, trap heat in the earth's atmosphere. Since the middle of the 19th century, human agriculture and industrialization have dispensed an enormous quantity of these green house gases into the atmosphere, where these have trapped enough heat to begin climate change. According to the United Nations, there has been a rise of about 0.6 degrees Celsius during the past century. More warming is expected to occur in the coming decades

The main reasons for the emission of gases that are a cause of green house effect are burning of fossil fuel like coal in the power plants for the purpose of generation of electricity. Fossil fuel burning leads to high emissions of carbon dioxide gas. Another green house gas is methane. Methane is more than 20 times as effectual as CO2 at entrapping heat in the atmosphere. Methane is obtained from resources such as rice paddies, bovine flatulence, bacteria in bogs and fossil fuel manufacture. Almost in all parts of the world, rice is grown on flooded fields. When fields are flooded, anaerobic situation build up and the organic matter in the soil decays, releasing methane to the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide, which is a colorless gas with a sweet odor, is also a green house gas. The main sources of nitrous oxide include nylon and nitric acid production, cars with catalytic converters, the use of fertilizers in agriculture and the burning of organic matter. A greater emission of nitrous oxides in the recent decades is leading global warming. Another jump in the category of green house gases is in the name of hydroflourocarbons and perflourocarbons, man made chemicals initiated as a substitute to other chemicals that deplete the atmosphere's protective ozone layer.

The speedy increase in greenhouse gases over the past century is a matter of worry in at least 800,000 years, according to a study of the oldest Antarctic ice core. Scientists at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in Cambridge have established the fact that there have been eight cycles of atmospheric alterations in the past 800,000 years when green house gases like carbon dioxide and methane have risen to high levels. Each time, the earth also had a comparatively high temperatures linked with warm; inter glacial periods, which were most certainly associated with levels of carbon dioxide and probably methane in the atmosphere. However, present levels of green house gases are much higher than everything seen during those previous warm periods.

Although much is being done to reduce the emission of these green house gases, but the efforts are still not enough. An international agreement called the Kyoto Protocol has been made among the various nations to cut down the emission of these gases. There is a dire need that each one understands the ill effects of these green house gases and does the need full.

Global Warming isincreasing the earth’s average temperature. The Green house gases are the main culprits of the global warming. The green house gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are playing hazards in the present times. These green house gases trap heat in earth’s atmosphere and thus result in increasing the temperature of earth. The excessive emission of these gases is the major cause of global warming.

The major source of carbon dioxide is the power plants. These power plants emit large amounts of carbon dioxide produced from burning of fossil fuels for the purpose of electricity generation. Coal is the major fuel that is burnt in these power plants. Coal produces around 1.7 times as much carbon dioxide per unit of energy when flamed as does natural gas and 1.25 times as much as oil. The coal gives out eighty percent more carbon per unit of energy it produces as compared to natural gas. Another major source of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the emission from the cars and other vehicles. About twenty percent of carbon dioxide emitted in the atmosphere comes from burning of gasoline in the engines of the vehicles. This is true for most of the developed countries. Moreover if sports bike and vehicles that are essentially designed for rough terrain, emit more carbon dioxide when used for general purpose on roads. It is always better to use vehicles designed for city driving on the city roads.

Buildings, both commercial and residential represent a larger source of global warming pollution than cars and trucks. Building of these structures require a lot of fuel to be burnt which emits a large amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The second major greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, which causes global warming, is Methane. Methane is more than 20 times as effectual as CO2 at entrapping heat in the atmosphere. Methane is obtained from resources such as rice paddies, bovine flatulence, bacteria in bogs and fossil fuel manufacture. Almost in all parts of the world, rice is grown on flooded fields. When fields are flooded, anaerobic situation build up and the organic matter in the soil decays, releasing methane to the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide, which is a colorless gas with a sweet odour, is another green house gas. The main sources of nitrous oxide include nylon and nitric acid production, cars with catalytic converters, the use of fertilizers in agriculture and the burning of organic matter. Greater emissions of nitrous oxides in the recent decades is leading global warming

Another major cause of global warming is deforestation. Deforestation is to be blamed for 25% of all carbon dioxide release entering the atmosphere, by the cutting and burning of about 34 million acres of trees each year. Trees collect the CO2 that we breathe out and give away from various other sources, and they give back oxygen that we breathe in. Thus, cutting of trees is leading to greater concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Greater urbanization, requirement of land for factories and buildings, requirement of timber are all reasons that are leading to deforestation, which in turn is leading to global warming.

Global Warming Facts

Global warming is caused by green house gases, which trap in the sun’s infrared rays in the earth’s atmosphere, which in turn heat up the earth’s atmosphere. These green house effect warming is called as global warming. The effects of green house effect are visible more prominently in the recent years, with number of natural calamities on the rise in the whole world.

The global warming has happened in the past few years and is evident from the rise in mean temperature of the earth’s atmosphere. The main causes for the global warming are attributed to release of green house gases by human activities. The main gases contributing to green house effect are carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane and nitrous oxide. The largest producers of these gases are the thermal power plants, which burn the fossil fuels and produce these gases in large quantities. The second biggest sources of these green house gases are the road vehicles and industries.

The global warming has led to increase in mean earth surface temperature and thus melting of polar ice. There are frequent melt down of glaciers that result in floods and other natural calamities. The melting of ice at the poles had led the mean sea level. And further increase in temperature may further melt the ice and lead to further increase in mean sea level, which will engulf low lying countries.

The effect of global warming is very evident on the animal kingdom also. Some animals have become extinct due to loss of their natural habitat or their inability to evolve to the rapid changes in the climate. Also there is a change in their life style because of the changes in the seasons. The migrating birds have changed their time of travel and also their place of migration.

The effect of global warming can be felt on seasons too. There is shift in season cycle, as the summers are getting longer than the winters. This has affected the animals and made them to change their lifestyle accordingly, and those who failed to do so have perished or on the verge of extinction.

The global warming is also responsible for the introduction of some new diseases. The bacteria are more effective and multiply much faster in warmer temperatures compared to cold temperatures. The increase in temperature has led to increase in the microbes that cause diseases.

Global warming is also effecting the crop production, as the crops are getting destroyed by the sudden change in temperatures or sudden on set of rains. Also the flash floods and other natural calamities affect the crop.

As a matter of fact, because of global warming, the earth’s atmosphere is getting more unpredictable with heavy rains in the areas, which have scanty rainfall or drought in the areas, which received good annual rainfall. The months of rainfall has also getting affected.

But there are some people on the other side of the wall also, they believe that the global warming is a natural process and cannot disturb our ecosystem. The earth’s surface mean temperature was even higher a long time ago, and the ecosystem has evolved from that temperature to this. So it can evolve further. But the changes that are happening now are rather fast compared to earlier times.

Many efforts are being made by various nations to cut down the rate of global warming. One such effort is the Kyoto agreement that has been made between various nations to reduce the emissions of various green house gases. Also many non profit organizations are working for the cause. Al Gore was one of the foremost U.S. politicians to heave an alarm about the hazards of global warming. He has produced a significantly acclaimed documentary movie called "An Inconvenient Truth," and written a book that archives his advice that Earth is dashing toward an immensely warmer future. Al Gore, the former vice president of United States has given various speeches to raise an awareness of global warming. He has warned people about the ill effects of Global warming and its remedies.

But an interesting side of the global warming episode is that there are people who do not consider global warming as something that is creating a problem. Skeptics of global warming think that global warming is not an ecological trouble. According to the global warming skeptics, the recent enhancement in the earth's average temperature is no reason for alarm. According to them earth's coastlines and polar ice caps are not at a risk of vanishing. Global warming skeptics consider that the weather models used to establish global warming and to forecast its impacts are distorted. According to the models, if calculations are made the last few decades must have been much worse as compared to actually happened to be. Most of the global warming skeptics believe that the global warming is not actually occurring. They stress on the fact the climatic conditions vary because of volcanism, the obliquity cycle, changes in solar output, and internal variability. Also the warming can be due to the variation in cloud cover, which in turn is responsible for the temperatures on the earth. The variations are also a result of cosmic ray flux that is modulated by the solar magnetic cycles

A group of scientists have recently reported on the surprisingly speedy rise in the discharge of carbon and methane release from frozen tundra in Siberia, now starting to melt because of human cause increases in earth’s temperature. The scientists tell us that the tundra is in danger of melting holds an amount of extra global warming pollution that is equivalent to the net amount that is previously in the earth's atmosphere. Likewise, earlier one more team of scientists reported that the in a single year Greenland witnessed 32 glacial earthquakes between 4.6 and 5.1 on the Richter scale. This is a disturbing sign and points that a huge destabilization that may now be in progress deep within the second biggest accretion of ice on the planet. This ice would be enough to raise sea level 20 feet worldwide if it broke up and slipped into the sea. Each day passing brings yet new proof that we are now in front of a global emergency, a climate emergency that needs instant action to piercingly decrease carbon dioxide emissions worldwide in order to turn down the earth's rising temperatures and avoid any catastrophe.

It is not easy to attach any particular events to global warming, but studies prove the fact that human activities are increasing the earth’s temperature. Even though most predictions focus on the epoch up to 2100, even if no further greenhouse gases were discharged after this date, global warming and sea level would be likely to go on to rise for more than a millennium, since carbon dioxide has a long average atmospheric life span.

Global Warming is Inspiring Scientists to Fight for Awareness

Scientists all over the world are making predictions about the ill effects of Global warming and connecting some of the events that have taken place in the pat few decades as an alarm of global warming. The effect of global warming is increasing the average temperature of the earth. A rise in earth’s temperatures can in turn root to other alterations in the ecology, including an increasing sea level and modifying the quantity and pattern of rainfall. These modifications may boost the occurrence and concentration of severe climate events, such as floods, famines, heat waves, tornados, and twisters. Other consequences may comprise of higher or lower agricultural outputs, glacier melting, lesser summer stream flows, genus extinctions and rise in the ranges of disease vectors. As an effect of global warming species like golden toad, harlequin frog of Costa Rica has already become extinct. There are number of species that have a threat of disappearing soon as an effect of global warming. As an effect of global warming various new diseases have emerged lately. These diseases are occurring frequently due to the increase in earths average temperature since the bacteria can survive better in elevated temperatures and even multiplies faster when the conditions are favorable. The global warming is extending the distribution of mosquitoes due to the increase in humidity levels and their frequent growth in warmer atmosphere. Various diseases due to ebola, hanta and machupo virus are expected due to warmer climates. The marine life is also very sensitive to the increase in temperatures. The effect of global warming will definitely be seen on some species in the water. A survey was made in which the marine life reacted significantly to the changes in water temperatures. It is expected that many species will die off or become extinct due to the increase in the temperatures of the water, whereas various other species, which prefer warmer waters, will increase tremendously. Perhaps the most disturbing changes are expected in the coral reefs that are expected to die off as an effect of global warming. The global warming is expected to cause irreversible changes in the ecosystem and the behavior of animals.

Global Warming Causes

As said, the major cause of global warming is the emission of green house gases like carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide etc into the atmosphere. The major source of carbon dioxide is the power plants. These power plants emit large amounts of carbon dioxide produced from burning of fossil fuels for the purpose of electricity generation. About twenty percent of carbon dioxide emitted in the atmosphere comes from burning of gasoline in the engines of the vehicles. This is true for most of the developed countries. Buildings, both commercial and residential represent a larger source of global warming pollution than cars and trucks.

Building of these structures require a lot of fuel to be burnt which emits a large amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Methane is more than 20 times as effectual as CO2 at entrapping heat in the atmosphere. Methane is obtained from resources such as rice paddies, bovine flatulence, bacteria in bogs and fossil fuel manufacture. When fields are flooded, anaerobic situation build up and the organic matter in the soil decays, releasing methane to the atmosphere. The main sources of nitrous oxide include nylon and nitric acid production, cars with catalytic converters, the use of fertilizers in agriculture and the burning of organic matter. Another cause of global warming is deforestation that is caused by cutting and burning of forests for the purpose of residence and industrialization.

GLOBAL WARMING

The average facade temperature of the globe has augmented more than 1 degree Fahrenheit since 1900 and the speed of warming has been almost three folds the century long average since 1970. This increase in earth’s average temperature is called Global warming. More or less all specialists studying the climate record of the earth have the same opinion now that human actions, mainly the discharge of green house gases from smokestacks, vehicles, and burning forests, are perhaps the leading power driving the fashion.
The gases append to the planet's normal greenhouse effect, permitting sunlight in, but stopping some of the ensuing heat from radiating back to space. Based on the study on past climate shifts, notes of current situations, and computer simulations, many climate scientists say that lacking of big curbs in greenhouse gas discharges, the 21st century might see temperatures rise of about 3 to 8 degrees, climate patterns piercingly shift, ice sheets contract and seas rise several feet. With the probable exemption of one more world war, a huge asteroid, or a fatal plague, global warming may be the only most danger to our planet earth.