Glacier caves: Just the tip of the iceberg, but may offer clues on climate change

Maurice Duchene is a glacial cave explorer who presented his observations to ICIMOD on 28 April, 2009. He has been visiting caves over a number of years in the Nepal Himalayas: namely the Annapurnas, Gokyo and Khumbu regions. His theory is that the water underneath these caves and in the glacial lakes were not just coming from the melt snow and ice, some were coming from underneath. On the other hand, some glacial caves which he saw in visits in 2006 and 2007 were gone now, and must have been eroded by the melting of ice. Although not a scientist, Duchene's observations provide a valuable start point for glaciospeleology, especially as little actual research has been done so far in the Himalayas.