A Live Science story “Nuclear Fallout Layer Missing in Himalayan Glacier”, reported nuclear tests in the 1950s and ‘60s spewed fallout all around the globe. Scientists find it when the drill into ice, extracting cores that reveal the layers of history that settle out of the sky. But a new study of ice cores from a big Himalayan glacier lack the distinctive radioactive signals that mark virtually every other ice core retrieved worldwide.

The mysteriously missing fallout traces suggest the Himalayan ice field has been shrinking at least since the A-bomb tests more than half a century ago. “There’s about 12,000 cubic kilometers (2,879 cubic miles) of fresh water stored in the glaciers throughout the Himalayas—more freshwater than in Lake Superior,” said Ohio State University researcher Lonnie Thompson, who presented the results this week at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. “Those glaciers release meltwater each year and feed the rivers that support nearly a half-billion people in that region. The loss of these ice fields might eventually create critical water shortages for people who depend on glacier-fed streams.” There are about 15,000 glaciers in the Himalayan mountain chain. The total area of glaciers in the Tibetan Plateau is expected to shrink by 80 percent by the year 2030, according to today’s statement. Read more here.

Icecap Note: Read Dr. Madhav Khandekar’s insightful comments on this, yet another scare-mongering Lonnie Thompson story here.