Global warming could melt Himalayan glaciers within 40 years, according to new research to be presented this week at a meeting of the World Meteorological Organization. The Gangotri glacier at the head of the Ganges River is receding at a rate of about 90 feet per year. The melting of glaciers could increase the risk of devastating floods: dozens of meltwater lakes that are forming could overflow and swamp villages, and meltwaters could swell the Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra, and other rivers. Glaciers in mountain ranges around the world are melting, but Syed Hasnain of the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi says the Himalayan ones are disappearing at the fastest pace.
