Pakistan is home to more than 7,000 glaciers, more than anywhere else on Earth (excluding the poles). Rising global temperatures related to climate change are causing glaciers to melt rapidly, creating thousands of glacial lakes.
There are two glaciers in Pakistan worth experiencing, the Hopper Glacier (black, in Hopper Valley) and the Passu Glacier (white). The Hoper Glacier is located in the Nagar Valley in the northern part of the country. The Hopper Valley is a scenic part of the Nagar Valley in northern Pakistan, about 10km from Nagar Khas (the main city of Nagar).
The rivers that originate in the eastern Himalayas are fed mainly by the summer rains. Their flows may increase as a warming climate increases atmospheric humidity. But most of the water of the Indus, which flows west from the Kangrinboqe Mountains, comes from snow and glaciers in the Himalayas, Karakoram and Hindu Kush.
The Hopper Valley is a picturesque landscape of rushing rivers and spectacular glaciers. Downstream, in the plains of Pakistan and northern India, the world’s largest irrigation system depends on the Indus River. The glacier-fed waters that feed this river are the lifeblood of some 270 million people.
In addition to the black glacier, Pakistan also has a unique white glacier called Passu. The higher you go, the more clouds cover it, creating a hazy scene and very cold weather.
The Passu glacier connects with the Batura glacier and several other glaciers to form a 56km long strip.
According to scientific studies, most glaciers are gradually shrinking. Initially, this will increase the water flow into the Indus River. But if temperatures continue to rise as predicted, and the glaciers continue to melt, the Indus will reach “peak water” by 2050. After that, the flow will decrease.
In May 2022, a sudden meltwater from the Passu glacier damaged part of the foundation of a bridge on the country’s famous Karakoram Highway. Pakistan also suffered a historic flood when a heatwave ravaging South Asia swept away and damaged more than a dozen homes in a nearby village.
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