News

USAID funds project to study water reosurces in Asia mountains

12.02.2012

A University of Colorado Boulder team is partnering with the United States Agency for International Development to assess snow and glacier contributions to water resources originating in the high mountains of Asia that straddle 10 countries. The four-year study aims to provide a comprehensive and systematic assessment of freshwater resources in the so-called "High Asia" region, which encompasses five mountain ranges and watersheds totalling roughly 1 million square miles. While about one-third of the world's population depends to some degree on fresh water within the High Asia hydrological system, not enough data exists on river and stream flows and the contribution of seasonal snow and glacier melt to paint an accurate picture of the water resources there, said Armstrong, a senior research scientist at CU-Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center, or NSIDC.

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