Glacial lakes in the Himalayas are filled to the brim and poised to overflow due to increased glacial melt from global warming. The short-term danger of too much water coming out of the Himalayas, however, will give way in the long run to reduced runoff from shrunken glacial volumes. As meltwater dries up, some of the world’s mightiest rivers whose headwaters are on the spine of the world — the Indus, the Yellow, the Mekong — will shrink to trickles. Drinking and irrigation water for hundreds of millions of people will disappear. (Guardian.UK)

Related:

The big thaw

“Greenland’s glaciers have begun to race towards the ocean, leading scientists to predict that the vast island’s ice cap is approaching irreversible meltdown.” (Independent.UK)