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<div class="Section1">
<p class="MsoPlainText">Dear Colleagues,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">I Know there has been turbulent debate in the recent past
on melting of glaciers in the Himalaya. I am sharing the links to some of our
recently published materials from ICIMOD’s points of view.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Melting Himalayas - ICIMOD's comments on a turbulent
debate (21 January 2010)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><a href="http://www.icimod.org/?page=737">http://www.icimod.org/?page=737</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Interview: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Q&A: Andreas Schild and the glacial retreat debate
Surabhi Pudasaini, 21 January 2010 <a href="http://www.scidev.net/en/features/q-a-andreas-schild-and-the-glacial-retreat-debate-1.html">http://www.scidev.net/en/features/q-a-andreas-schild-and-the-glacial-retreat-debate-1.html</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Hindu Kush-Himalayan Glaciers: Frequently asked questions
(2009)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><a href="http://books.icimod.org/index.php/search/publication/653">http://books.icimod.org/index.php/search/publication/653</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">best
regards,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p DEFANGED_STYLE="line-height:115%" class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:9.0pt;
line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><img alt="icimod" src="cid:image001.gif@01CA9DDA.573B0EC0" id="Picture_x0020_1" height="45" width="167" border="0"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p DEFANGED_STYLE="line-height:115%" class="MsoNormal"><b><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:9.0pt;
line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:gray"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p DEFANGED_STYLE="line-height:115%" class="MsoNormal"><b><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:9.0pt;
line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:gray">Basanta Shrestha,
</span></b><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:gray">Division Head,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p DEFANGED_STYLE="line-height:115%" class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:9.0pt;
line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:gray">Mountain
Environment and Natural Resources Information System (MENRIS)<br>
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p DEFANGED_STYLE="line-height:115%" class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:9.0pt;
line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:gray">GPO Box 3226,
Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Kathmandu, Nepal. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p DEFANGED_STYLE="line-height:115%" class="MsoNormal"><b><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:9.0pt;
line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:gray">Tel</span></b><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:gray"> +977-1-5003222 </span><b><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:9.0pt;line-height:
115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:gray">Direct Line</span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:gray"> 5003242 Ext 117 </span><b><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:9.0pt;line-height:
115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:gray">Fax</span></b><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:gray"> +977-1-5003277<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p DEFANGED_STYLE="line-height:115%" class="MsoNormal"><b><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:9.0pt;
line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:gray">Web</span></b><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:gray"> www.icimod.org; Mountain GeoPortal http://menris.icimod.net/<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p DEFANGED_STYLE="line-height:115%" class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:9.0pt;
line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:gray"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;
color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_MailEndCompose"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></a></p>
<div>
<div DEFANGED_STYLE="border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">
owner-glims@flagmail.wr.usgs.gov [mailto:owner-glims@flagmail.wr.usgs.gov] <b>On
Behalf Of </b>Jeffrey Kargel<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Saturday, January 23, 2010 10:03 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> GLIMS mailing list<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Himalayan glaciers are melting, mostly<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Dear
GLIMS colleagues,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">I
thought I should update you on what you probably have been hearing about.
The big Himalayan "glaciergate." I hate that term, and
Climategate, because it implies some kind of conspiracy. It was an error,
or a paragraph comedy of errors, in an otherwise almost entirely very serious,
very real, very accurate, very useful, encyclopedic document about our changing
planet. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">If
you google on cogley glacier himalaya 2035, you will come up with 7990 hits at
the moment; and counting. Our letter to the editor can be accessed here:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/eletters/326/5955/924<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">The
formal paper publication is due in Jan 29 issue of Science.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#444444">One of many mainstream media
articles is in the Economist (link below). It is perhaps typical of the
better half of the articles, in that it reports the error, is a bit incredulous
(as we all are) about the error, and acknowledges the value of the remainder of
the IPCC AR4 assessment, without offering much that is overly helpful to aid
readers to get an idea of why the IPCC Fourth Assessment really is very much on
target for the most part. The Economist article was reasonable, under the
circumstances, so long as it might be followed by other articles that focus
more on what *IS* happening. </span></span><span DEFANGED_STYLE="color:#444444"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#444444">http://www.economist.com/sciencetechnology/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15328534</span><span DEFANGED_STYLE="color:#444444"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="color:#444444"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#444444">If you look for the posted
comments-- and I only got through 7 or 8 before feeling an urge to respond (I
say the politely). See my extended comment #21, reproduced below. I
don't expect that any made-up mind will be swayed, but just possibly two or
three thinking brains will consider what I say.</span></span><span DEFANGED_STYLE="color:#444444"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="color:#444444"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#444444">As for why the Cogley et al.
letter was needed, and why the IPCC finally retracted its statement about
Himalayan glaciers disappearing by 2035, if this remains a mystery to you,
please feel free to contact me, Graham, Kees, and Georg. Anyway, we have
documented this need in an evolving set of posts on Cryolist, and we are
satisfied with the IPCC response, and encouraged that the media ruckus can move
to other topics, possibly including a more realistic view of global climate
change. We will now leave Cryolist, and you, in peace about this.
But you may feel absolutely free to use our 46-slide, 17-authored
Himalaya presentation in your class lectures or other non-publishing outlets.
That presentation is available on the GLIMS site (although it may need to
be updated, Bruce, with the revised/expanded document.)</span></span><span style="color:#444444"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#444444"> </span><span DEFANGED_STYLE="color:#444444"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#444444">--Jeff</span><span DEFANGED_STYLE="color:#444444"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#444444"> </span><span DEFANGED_STYLE="color:#444444"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<p DEFANGED_STYLE="line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline" class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333"><a title="View user's comments." target="_blank" href="http://www.economist.com/user/Dr.%2BJeffrey%2BKargel/comments"><b><span DEFANGED_STYLE="color:#08526D;
border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in;text-decoration:none">Dr. Jeffrey
Kargel</span></b></a> wrote in reply to Oliver Morton's article in the
Economist:</span><span DEFANGED_STYLE="color:#444444"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p DEFANGED_STYLE="line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline" class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#999999">Jan
22nd 2010 11:38 GMT</span><span DEFANGED_STYLE="color:#444444"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<p DEFANGED_STYLE="margin-bottom:15.6pt;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:
baseline" class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#333333"> </span><span DEFANGED_STYLE="color:#444444"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p DEFANGED_STYLE="margin-bottom:15.6pt;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:
baseline;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;background-image:initial;
background-repeat:initial;background-attachment:initial" class="MsoNormal"><span DEFANGED_STYLE="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333">As a
coauthor of the letter to the editor of Science, and a glaciologist, and lead
investigator of the GLIMS project (Global Land Ice Measurements from Space),
and somebody who was interviewed for and quoted in this article, I should
probably respond to some of the comments that simply do not flow logically from
what is written in Oliver Morton's Economist article. But first, I was not a
part of the IPCC or a reviewer of the voluminous IPCC Fourth Assessment. I am a
reader and user of it; and as reasonable readers of the Economist may surmise,
I do not fear the truth, and will work to uncover the truth. This Economist
article is fairly accurate and reflects the situation reasonably well; there
was a very embarrassing, grossly erroneous paragraph in an encyclopedic
document. The IPCC Fourth Assessment is 99.9% correct, as far as science knows;
this Economist article, and almost all media reporting in the last week, is not
about the 99.9%, it's about the 0.1%. There is a strong consensus about this
among people qualified and educated to make an independent assessment. It is
filled with facts and measurements and observations, models, and inferences.
The factual data are very solid throughout almost the entire set of documents.
It was painstakingly reviewed and well substantiated in almost every section of
every chapter; this is evident in the thoroughness, the references, the
presentation quality, and the depth and insight of the analysis. It is a very
good documentation of the state and recent changes of the Earth climate system
and of projected future changes. The models are based on physics, the science
which has given us missions to Mars, submarines to the seafloor, jet airplanes,
air conditioners, power plants, automobiles, and a comparatively high standard
of living for Brits and Americans and Indians and Chinese. If you want to look
for nails in coffins, go to a graveyard; the IPCC is not where you'll find
them. There was a really--REEEALLY--bad paragraph. A horrific paragraph; unbelievable
inaccuracy, poor referencing, basically no basis in reality, amidst an
exceedingly detailed and accurate overall document. One paragraph. It had to be
corrected, and I helped to force a correction. Such is not a nail, it's not a
sliver of a coffin. People who have pre-ordained conclusions, handed down by
God or otherwise, will not find logic or reason or observations or common sense
to be something worth listening to. So I comment to the others among you, who
may have the capacity to listen and to try to comprehend and fathom what is
going on all around you. The climate science that explains why Earth is warming
due to greenhouse gases accumulating in our planet's atmosphere is the very
same climate science that explains why Venus is so torrid being so close to the
sun and having a greenhouse atmosphere 100 times denser than Earth's, why Mars
is really cold but a tad warmer than it would be without its tenuous greenhouse
atmosphere, and why Earth had ice ages and super-hothouse periods in the geologic
past. The physics is not mysterious. It's a little more complex than the fact
that ice taken out of the freezer in your home will melt, a little more complex
than your 5-day weather forecast, a little more complex than why a your
night-time temperature cools a little bit on a cloudy night but a lot on a
clear night; a little more complex than the explanation for why your car heats
up with the windows rolled up or your bed warms up when you climb in with your
spouse. The greenhouse effect is not speculation, it's not hypothesis; it's
observed reality. CO2 is transparent to visible light and opaque to infrared;
water vapor is, too; likewise, methane. These gases let sunlight into the lower
atmosphere and onto the surface, the surface heats up, and tries to cool off,
but the emitted infrared radiation is blocked by these gases. So the atmosphere
heats up more than if these gases were absent and a little more than if these
gases were present but not abundant. The physics is well understood. There are
uncertainties in the models of future climate, definitely, such as how clouds
form and disperse; such as how much gasoline and coal we're going to burn and
whether controls are instituted or not. But the fact is, we are observing the
effects of greenhouse gases, and those effects are steadily rising, sharply
rising by the standards of climate variability over the whole course of human
history. Yes, Himalayan glaciers are melting rapidly (but few by 2035).
Cultures have risen and fallen with climate shifts smaller than what we are now
experiencing. We are now emerging from the envelope of all historical
experience with changing climate. I am not a doomsdayer. I see plenty reason
for hope. My optimism fast fades when I consider models where people look for
fictional nails in coffins, and seek to confuse or give in to confusion and
paralysis of intelligent thought and careful deed.</span><span DEFANGED_STYLE="color:#444444"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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Checked by AVG - www.avg.com<br>
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