In a study conducted by researchers from the University of Colorado and the National Centre for Atmospheric Research, Indian ocean levels are rising unevenly putting millions at risk along low-lying coastlines in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, besides worsening monsoon flooding in India. This is attributed to the rising levels in climate change triggered by warming seas and changes in atmospheric circulation patterns.
Sea levels in general are rising globally by about 3 mm (0.1181 inches) a year. But along the coasts of the northern Indian Ocean, seas have risen by an average of about 0.5 inches, or 13 mm, per decade, the study notes. Oceans absorb a large part of this extra heat, causing them to expand and sea levels to rise. Warmer temperatures are also causing glaciers and parts of the ice blanketing Greenland and West Antarctica to melt.
However, one man is not waiting for governments or organisations to make amends. Chewang Norphel popularly known as 'Glacier man' from North ladakh is a retired civil engineer who has figured out a way to build artificial glaciers in Ladakh. Chewang Norphel at the age of 75, has built 12 new glaciers already and hopes to train more to continue his work and save the worlds “third cap” from being transformed into rivers.
Through his ingenious technique, melt water from glaciers is diverted through a network of pipes into artificial lakes in the shaded side of mountain valleys. An embankment is built to keep in the water, which freezes at night and remains frozen until March, when the start of summer melts the new glacier and releases the water into the rivers below. So far, Norphel’s glaciers have been able to each store up to one million cubic feet of ice, which in turn can irrigate 200 hectares of farm land. For farmers, that can make the difference between crop failure and a bumper crop of more than 1,000 tons of wheat.
Indeed a real life Hero !!! More Ice to Mr. Norphel !!!
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