Initiated by TPE, an 11-day field expedition to Yala Glacier from October 3-13, 2009, was conducted. Yala Glacier is located at (28.25°N, 85.62°E) in the Langtang region in Nepal on the southern slope of the Himalayas. Characteristically, it has a wide coverage area (2.5 km²) and gentle slope (22°southwest); the highest and lowest elevations of Yala Glacier are 5749 and 5090 m a.s.l.

The expedition was a joint effort between Chinese and Nepalese scientists, led by Prof. Yao Tandong of the ITP and Prof. Lochan P. Devkota of the Tribhuvan University, Nepal. The objectives were to monitor the glacier dynamics, gain an understanding the local hydrology and engage in long-term mass balance monitoring to reveal interactions between climate change and glacial variation in the region.

Nepal, within the Third Pole region, has recently documented significant glacial retreat and glacial lake expansion, arousing social concern with the threat to the national sustainability. Due to limited investigation, however, little is known about the mass balance budget of glaciers on the southern slope of the Himalayas, or about the long-term trends.

In the context of global climate change, a comparative study of glacier response to climate change is also necessary and important between the northern and southern slopes of the Himalayas. This joint expedition therefore not only substantiates the Sino-Nepal MoU in TPE study, but also demonstrates the feasibility and promising outlook for multinational, collaborative study of TPE-related issues.

Among participants were Prof. Tandong Yao, Prof. Lochan P. Devkota, Prof. Yaoming Ma, Prof. Lide Tian, Associate Prof. Wusheng Yu, Associate Profs Deepak Aryal and Tek Bahadur Chetri, PhD candidate Dambaru B. Kattel and Lecturer Binod Dawadi.

Group photo of expedition crews at the mountain foot in southern Himalaya (photo credit: Dambaru Kattel)

Expedition members hiking on the Yala Glacier (photo credit: Dambaru Kattel)