Glacier Melt: The Heat is On

The Khumbu Glacier, some 87 miles northeast of Kathmandu. The Himalayan glaciers provide water for more than a billion people in Asia. However, a new UN report warns that people in the Himalayas should prepare for "a tough and unpredictable future," in the words of Norway's Minister of the Environment and International Development Erik Solheim. The report draws a connection between climate change and glacier retreat.

"Since the beginning of the 1980s, the rate of ice loss has increased substantially in many regions, concurrent with an increase in global mean air temperatures," the report notes.

Another view of the Khumbu Glacier, one of the longest glaciers in the world. Nepal has more than 2,300 glacial lakes and experts say at least 20 are in danger of bursting. Glaciologists say that it's happening at an alarming speed, with temperatures in the Himalayas rising up to eight times faster than the global average, which is a key indicator of the temperature rise.

Evening view of Mount Thamserku, 87 miles northeast of Kathmandu. Glaciers like this one are reported melting because of warmer global temperatures. According to a new UN report, the trend is especially pronounced around the North and South Poles - especially in Alaska, Argentina and Chile.

Every year, between 80 and 100 million people are considered vulnerable or affected directly or indirectly by floods in Asia. The fear is that glacial melting will lead to flooding when snow and ice melts and overwhelms earthen barriers. The report says that people living South Asia are now at "high risk" as a result of the warming of glaciers in the Himalayas.

The Lirung Glacier in the Lantang Valley about 38 miles northwest of Kathmandu. The glacier has retreated at least two kilometers in recent decades, an effect of global warming that is worrying local residents. All across the world's tallest mountain range, glaciers have been reported melting, causing a raft of short and long term problems. 1.3 billion people who depend on water that flows from the mountains. Climate change campaigners refer to the Himalayas as the 'third pole' and say the melting glaciers are the biggest potential contributors to rising sea levels after the north and south poles.

"Accumulation of science shows us a clear general trend of melting glaciers linked to a warming climate and perhaps other impacts, such as the deposit of soot, reducing the reflection of heat back into space," according to a statement by UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.

View of the Perito Moreno glacier in southern Argentina. The glacier has begun to rupture in winter, probably due to the climate change. Glaciers in Patagonia, which cover parts of Argentina and Chile, have overall been losing mass faster and for longer than glaciers in other parts of the world, according to the United Nations Environment Program.

Another view of the Perito Moreno glacier, one of the most significant natural attractions of Argentina, 20 miles long and with a total surface 160 square miles.

The Northern Patagonian Ice Field, located in the Laguna San Rafael National Park, south of Santiago, Chile. The Northern Patagonian Ice Field is a vestige of a large ice sheet that covered much of Patagonia million years ago.

Satellite images of polar ice sheets show the retreating glacier terminus of the South Cascade Glacier in Washington State. The photos provide the first graphic images of how the polar ice sheets are retreating. According to the USGS, changes in the timing of coastal glacial breakup have significant local impacts; ecological, biological, and human. Information recorded over long periods is required to understand and model the dynamics of glaciers and how changes or trends may develop and influence other systems.

Photo composition of the snowcapped Pastoruri, in the province of Huaraz, north of Peru, showing its 'severe illness' caused by heavy climate changes. Since 1977, the snow on the 'white range' has receded about 20m, said Marco Zapata of the Natural Resources National Institute

An enormous iceberg (R) breaks off the Knox Coast in the Australian Antarctic Territory on January 11, 2008. Australia's CSIRO's atmospheric research unit has found the world is warming faster than predicted by the United Nations' top climate change body, with harmful emissions exceeding worst-case estimates.