Submission + - IPCC Finally Acknowledges Its 'Himalayan Blunder'
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Pallava Bagla writes in Scientific American that there is one silver lining in the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — the glaciers in the Himalayas are not disappearing for at least a couple of centuries. The IPCC had earlier asserted that the glaciers in the high Himalayas—also dubbed the “third pole”—would disappear by 2035. According to the new report, “it is virtually certain that these projections [the current glacier melt rates] are more reliable than an earlier erroneous assessment of complete disappearance by 2035.” The 2007 Himalayan glacier error had badly tarnished the reputation of the Nobel Peace Prize winning IPCC. In its Fourth Assessment Report, released in 2007, the IPCC had committed what came to be known as the `Himalayan Blunder’ or ‘Glacier-gate’ when it asserted that Himalayan glaciers “are receding faster than in any other part of the world and, if the present rate continues, the likelihood of them disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high if the Earth keeps warming at the current rate.” Subsequently as part of the major reform process the IPCC `strengthened’ its procedures and was even subjected to an extended probe by the Inter Academy Council from Netherlands. Chris Field, one of the lead authors of the latest report, says the Himalayan glacier error was “really serious” and that "we've tried to double check and triple check and quadruple check everything in this report."
