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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

The ‘Asian water tower’ is brimming — with glacial melt water

Groundwater stores on the Tibetan plateau have risen recently, but the bad news is that thawing snow and ice are the source.
Prayer flags suspended from a shrine near a glacier on the Tibetan Plateau

Prayer flags flutter near a glacier on the Tibetan Plateau. Water from melting glaciers and snow is driving a rise in the plateau’s groundwater levels. Credit: Bernardo De Niz/MCT/Tribune News Service/Getty

The Tibetan Plateau’s store of underground water has increased, but the replenishment is coming mainly from melting glaciers, snow and permafrost1.

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Nature 609, 879 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02989-x

References

  1. Zou, Y. et al. Geophys. Res. Lett. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL100092 (2022).

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