LANZHOU: Climate change could lead to more cryospheric hazards, posing extensive threats to society, states a recent study from Chinese researchers.
The cryosphere mainly refers to glaciers, permafrost, snow cover and sea ice as these components are continuously distributed below the freezing point with a certain thickness.
Storing more than 70 percent of the world’s freshwater resources, the cryosphere plays an important role in supporting key elements of the Earth’s life system, such as water resources, energy and food security.
These components are sensitive to climate warming, and changes in the cryosphere can lead to serious hazards to human society. Although the hazards attracted much public attention, there is still no synthetic review for the changes of cryospheric hazards in the past decades.
By analyzing phenomena, mechanisms and impacts of different types of cryospheric hazards, researchers from Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources (NIEER) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou University and Lanzhou University of Technology enumerated possible cryospheric hazards that could occur due to climate change, and further gave suggestions on approaches to mitigate these hazards in the future. – Agencies
