'The water resources in the Himalayas are changing, and we need to understand how'

How do you minimise the destructive effects of global warming? In order to answer this question and make political decisions, insights into the impact of rising temperatures are needed.

Pasang Sherpa, Tuomo Salorante, Walter Immerzeel, Inka Koch, Jakob Steiner
Pasang Sherpa, Tuomo Salorante, Walter Immerzeel, Inka Koch, Jakob Steiner

Physical geographer Walter Immerzeel’s interdisciplinary research team makes a significant contribution in this area. With the aid of drones that fly over glaciers and rivers, satellite data, models and measuring stations in Nepal, the team chart the complex water cycle of the Himalayas. The work of the group, which is part of the strategic theme Pathways to Sustainability, is renowned around the world because it is able to cover the full water cycle of this immense mountain range in a single research project.

The glaciers and the snow in the mountains of Asia make up the water supply for a quarter of the world’s population. Climate change is putting this ‘water tower’ under threat. What does this mean for the billions of people who live downstream?