Glaciers are a big item when we talk about the world’s water supply. You can think of a glacier as a frozen river, and like rivers, they “flow” downhill, erode the landscape, and move water along in the Earth’s water cycle.

If all the ice covering Antarctica , Greenland, and in mountain glaciers around the world were to melt, sea level would rise about 70 meters (230 feet). The ocean would cover all the coastal cities. And land area would shrink significantly. Scientists are studying exactly how ice caps disappear.

And water vapor gets into the atmosphere from plants by a process called transpiration. Because air is cooler at higher altitude in the troposphere, water vapor cools as it rises high in the atmosphere and transforms into water droplets by a process called condensation. The water droplets that form make up clouds.

Glaciers and ice sheets both affect and are affected by changes in Earth’s climate. They are frozen fresh-water reservoirs that change volume in response to changes in temperature and snowfall. Those great polar ice sheets also contribute to the formation of cold, salty sea water that sinks to fill the deep ocean.

Natural reservoirs include oceans, glaciers and other bodies of ice, groundwater, lakes, soil moisture, wetlands, living organisms, the atmosphere, and rivers. Collectively, all water storage areas make up the hydrosphere. Most water on earth is found in oceans and seas, then in glaciers and groundwater.

Think that ice-blue water pouring out of a beautiful mountain glacier is safe to drink untreated? Think again. The research suggests fecal bacteria can survive inside glaciers for much longer than previously thought, flowing downhill with the ice, and potentially infecting water sources tens of miles away.

Drinking contaminated water or using it for cooking, washing food, preparing drinks, making ice, and brushing teeth can make you sick with diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach pain.

about 30,000 years

At least five major ice ages have occurred throughout Earth’s history: the earliest was over 2 billion years ago, and the most recent one began approximately 3 million years ago and continues today (yes, we live in an ice age!). Currently, we are in a warm interglacial that began about 11,000 years ago.

The world’s largest glacier is the Lambert glacier in Antarctica , according to the United States Geological Survey. The glacier is more than 60 miles (96 km) wide at its widest point, about 270 miles (435) long, and has been measured to be 8,200 feet (2,500 meters) deep at its center.

Gangotri Glacier

At present The Aravali range is only a reminiscent of the gigantic system that existed in the prehistoric times with several of its summits rising above the snow line and nourishing glaciers of stupendous magnitude which in turn fed many great glaciers.

Gangotri Glacier, India Smallest Observed Accumulation Zone in 2020

• Gangotri Glacier snowline averaging 5600 m on Oct.
• Gangotri Glacier boundary and flow directions on Digital Globe image with GLIMS glacier outline indicated.
• Central flowline for Gangotri Glacier, 32 km long, with 29.5 km in the ablation zone.

Indian army

The glacier can reach nearly 19,000 feet in altitude, and even the lowest portion is nearly 12,000 feet. Both sides lose men to altitude sickness and cold, in an environment in which the temperature can plummet to 70 below Celsius.

Naturally, Siachen assumes strategic significance for India, Pakistan and even China because it forms a hub between Shaksgam Valley, Karakoram pass and Aksai Chin. Therefore, holding Siachen is vital for India to prevent ingress not only from Pakistan but also from China.

It is a historical fact that the dispute in Kashmir goes beyond the territory that is still under the illegal occupation of Pakistan, and includes both the territory measuring 5,180 square kilometres (sq kms) in the Shaksgam Valley in the trans-Karakoram tract ceded by Pakistan to China under their so-called border …

Jammu and Kashmir, the largest of the princely states, had a predominantly Muslim population ruled by the Hindu Maharaja Hari Singh. Pakistanis decided to preempt this possibility by wresting Kashmir by force if necessary. Pakistan made various efforts to persuade the Maharaja of Kashmir to join Pakistan.

Under this Sino-Pakistan Agreement, Pakistani control to a part of northern Kashmir was recognized by China. For Pakistan, which had border disputes on its eastern and western borders, the agreement provided relief by securing its northern border from any future contest.

Aksai Chin is a region administered by China as part of its Xinjiang and Tibet autonomous regions (mostly as part of Hotan County, Hotan Prefecture in Xinjiang), and constituting the eastern portion of the larger Kashmir region which has been the subject of a dispute between India and China since the late 1950s.

In 1339, Shah Mir became the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir, inaugurating the Shah Mir dynasty. For the next five centuries, Muslim monarchs ruled Kashmir, including the Mughal Empire, who ruled from 1586 until 1751, and the Afghan Durrani Empire, which ruled from 1747 until 1819.

India controls 101,338 km2 (39,127 sq mi) of the disputed territory, Pakistan controls 85,846 km2 (33,145 sq mi), and the People’s Republic of China controls the remaining 37,555 km2 (14,500 sq mi).

Kashmiri language, language spoken in the Vale of Kashmir and the surrounding hills. By origin it is a Dardic language, but it has become predominantly Indo-Aryan in character. Reflecting the history of the area, the Kashmiri vocabulary is mixed, containing Dardic, Sanskrit, Punjabi, and Persian elements.