Monitoring system helps prevent natural disasters on Tibetan plateau

Chinese scientists have established a sophisticated monitoring system to observe and forecast natural disasters, such as avalanches of ice and flooding from glacial lakes on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, whose meltwater feeds 10 great rivers in Asia and affects 1.9 billion people, scientists said on Wednesday.

The plateau is a glacier-based freshwater system, also known as a "mountain water tower", that supply water to communities downstream by storing or transporting vast quantities of water from their high-altitude glaciers, snow packs, lakes and streams.

According to a global study published in the journal Nature on Dec 9, of the 78 global water towers studied, the Indus water tower－which is made up of vast areas of the Himalayan mountain range and covers portions of Afghanistan, China, India and Pakistan－is the most important and one of the most threatened by climate change.