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Climate change is affecting the hydrological system of Northern India, which is based on two main phenomena: the monsoon precipitation in summer and the growth and melt of the snow and ice cover in the Himalaya, also called the "Water Tower of Asia". Increasing greenhouse gases are expected to change these phenomena and, in particular, will have a profound impact on snow cover, glaciers and its related hydrology and water resources availability. 

Himalaya glacier

Especially the perennial rivers in the north: Ganga, Indus and Brahmaputra, are susceptible to climate change as they originate from the Himalayas. Snow and glacier melt run-off form a great part of the rivers’ flow. 
Climate change is projected to have a short term and long term impact on the hydrological system. On the short term discharge of rivers in the north will increase due to the melting of snow and glaciers. On the long term the snow and glaciers will have melted for a great part and their contribution to the rivers’ flow will decrease.

The principal aim of the EU FP7 HighNoon project (which is a compound word derived from high (high on the top of the Himalayas) and from noon of Monsoon, referring to the western film High Noon) is to assess the impact of Himalayan glaciers retreat and possible changes of the Indian summer monsoon on the spatial and temporal distribution of water resources in Northern India and to provide recommendations for appropriate and efficient response strategies that strengthen the cause for adaptation to hydrological extreme events.  
Problems with the Monsoon


Archive with Project News

HighNoon Science and Policy Brief - Adaptation to Climate Change in the Ganges Basin, Northern India Science and Policy Brief with findings and recommendations for policy makers. 'Moors, E. J. and C. Siderius, 2012. Adaptation to Climate Change in the Ganges Basin, Northern India: A Science and Policy Brief. Alterra, Wageningen UR, Wageningen, the Netherlands, p48'.
HighNoon Secretary, Thursday 31 May 2012
Report of HighNoon Open Science and Policy Seminar Delhi, 4 April 2012 (D7.5) Meeting report of the HighNoon Open Science and Policy Seminar, which took place in Delhi on April 4, 2012.
HighNoon Secretary, Tuesday 15 May 2012
Article: 'Combining climatological and participatory approaches for assessing changes in extreme climatic indices at regional scale' This paper combines the climatological and societal perspectives for assessing future climatic extremes over Kangasabati River basin in India using an ensemble of four high resolution (25 km) regional climate model (RCM) simulations from 1970 to 2050. The relevant extreme indices and their thresholds are defined in consultation with stakeholders and are then compared using RCM simulations. To evaluate the performance of RCM in realistically representing atmospheric processes in the basin, model simulations driven with ERAInterim global re-analysis data from 1989 to 2008 are compared with observations. The models perform well in simulating seasonality, interannual variability and climatic extremes. Future climatic extremes are evaluated based on RCM simulations driven by GCMs, for present (1970–1999) and for the SRES A1B scenario for future (2021–2050) period. The analysis shows an intensification of majority of extremes as projected by future ensemble mean. The study suggests that there is a marked consistency in stakeholder observed changes in climate extremes and future predicted trends.
Neha Mittal, Ashok Mishra, Rajendra Singh in Climatic Change, Tuesday 23 April 2013
28th Himalayan Karakorum Tibet Workshop and 6th International Symposium on Tibetan Plateau Joint Conference (22-24 August 2013) This meeting addresses all topics of geodyamics and environment related to the Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding mountain ranges and basins. Location: Tübingen (Germany).
HKT-ISTP 2013 office, Wednesday 3 April 2013
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