High-mountain Asia

High-mountain Asia (HMA) is a high-elevation^[1] geographic region in central-south Asia that includes numerous cordillera and highland systems around the Tibetan Plateau, encompassing regions of East, Southeast, South and Central Asia. The region was orogenically formed by the continental collision of the Indian Plate into (and underneath) the Eurasian Plate.

According to NASA, the region is the "world's largest reservoir of perennial glaciers and snow outside of the Earth's polar ice sheets",^[2] and has been nicknamed the "Third Pole". Their meltwaters and runoffs form the headwaters of river systems that support the drinking water and food production of nearly 3 billion people, and hydrological and climate changes in the mountains affect "ecosystem services, agriculture, energy and livelihood"^[3] for all the surrounding areas.^[4]^[5] NASA has a High Mountain Asia Team (HiMAT) to study the region.^[3]

In a 2020 study, the term High Asia or High Mountain Asia was used metaphorically to categorise Kashmir, Hazara, Nuristan, Laghman, Azad Kashmir, Jammu, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Gilgit Baltistan, Chitral, Western Tibet, Western Xinjiang, Badakhshan, Gorno Badakhshan, Fergana, Osh and Turkistan Region. These rich resource areas are surrounded by the five major mountainous systems of Tien Shan, Pamirs, Karakoram, Hindu Kush and Western Himalayas and the three main river systems of Amu Darya, Syr Darya and Indus. The work further highlighted the role of United States, China, Russia, UK, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Iran and other players involved in The New Great Game over who will dominate High Asia in the 21st century.^[6]

Geography

High-mountain Asia is centered around Tibetan Plateau (a.k.a. the "Roof of the World"), and extends to the surrounding regions as numerous mountain ranges:

south – the Himalayas and Arakan Mountains;
southeast – the Hengduan Mountains, Yun-Gui Plateau and Shan-Tenasserim ranges;
east – the Qinling Mountains and various ranges that edge the Sichuan Basin;
north – the Qilian Mountains, Kunlun Mountains, Tian Shan ranges and (arguably) Altai Mountains as well as parts of the Mongolian Plateau;
northwest – the Pamir-Alay and Pamir Mountains;
west and southwest – the Karakoram, Hindu Kush and Sulaiman-Kirthar Mountains.^[7]^[5]

These mountain range networks contains all 14 peaks above 8,000 m (26,000 ft) and all of the peaks above 7,200 m (23,600 ft), and expand across the mountainous Chinese provinces of Tibet, Xinjiang, Sichuan and Yunnan (including the flat and depressed Tarim Basin in southern Xinjiang, which contains China's largest desert, the Taklamakan),^[8] northern Myanmar, the Himalayan nations of Nepal and Bhutan as well as north/northwestern Pakistan and northeastern India, and most of the southeastern Central Asian nations of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Their rain shadows are partly responsible for the cold arid climate in parts of Central Asia and the Mongolian Plateau.

References

^ Qiu, Jane (January 27, 2015). "High-Altitude Forests in the Himalayas Harder Hit by Droughts". Scientific American. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
^ Arendt, Anthony (December 2, 2016). "NASA Research Announcement: Understanding Changes in High Mountain Asia". NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Dr. Viviana Maggioni Receives Two Awards from NASA to Study Hyper-Resolution in Soil Moisture Land Modeling and Data Assimilation". George Mason University. 2016. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
^ International Symposium on Glaciology in High-Mountain Asia (PDF), International Glaciological Society, July 2014, retrieved July 25, 2017
^ ^a ^b Pritchard, Hamish D. (May 22, 2017). "Asia's glaciers are a regionally important buffer against drought". Nature. 545 (7653): 169–174. Bibcode:2017Natur.545..169P. doi:10.1038/nature22062. PMID 28492255. (Retracted, see doi:10.1038/nature25779, Retraction Watch. If this is an intentional citation to a retracted paper, please replace {{retracted|...}} with {{retracted|...|intentional=yes}}.)
^ Sharma, Vishal (2020). Civilizational Colonialism and the Ongoing New Great Game in the Sensitive Areas of High Asia: Exploring Pan-High Asianism as the potential way forward for the Western Pahari, Greater Dardic, Trans-Himalayan, Badakhshan and Sogdiana Belts possibly leading to High Asian Approaches to International Law (HAAIL). Academia.edu (Thesis). Cardiff: Cardiff University. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
^ "NASA High Mountain Asia Project". University of Washington eScience Institute: NASA High-Mountain Asia Project. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
^ Song, Chunqia; Huang, Bo; Ke, Linghong; Ye, Qinghua (October 2016). "Precipitation variability in High Mountain Asia from multiple datasets and implication for water balance analysis in large lake basins". Global and Planetary Change. 145: 20–29. Bibcode:2016GPC...145...20S. doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2016.08.005.

[1] Qiu, Jane (January 27, 2015). "High-Altitude Forests in the Himalayas Harder Hit by Droughts". Scientific American. Retrieved July 25, 2017.

[2] Arendt, Anthony (December 2, 2016). "NASA Research Announcement: Understanding Changes in High Mountain Asia". NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System. Retrieved July 25, 2017.

[maggioni-3] "Dr. Viviana Maggioni Receives Two Awards from NASA to Study Hyper-Resolution in Soil Moisture Land Modeling and Data Assimilation". George Mason University. 2016. Retrieved July 26, 2017.

[4] International Symposium on Glaciology in High-Mountain Asia (PDF), International Glaciological Society, July 2014, retrieved July 25, 2017

[naturePritchard-5] Pritchard, Hamish D. (May 22, 2017). "Asia's glaciers are a regionally important buffer against drought". Nature. 545 (7653): 169–174. Bibcode:2017Natur.545..169P. doi:10.1038/nature22062. PMID 28492255. (Retracted, see doi:10.1038/nature25779, Retraction Watch. If this is an intentional citation to a retracted paper, please replace {{retracted|...}} with {{retracted|...|intentional=yes}}.)

[6] Sharma, Vishal (2020). Civilizational Colonialism and the Ongoing New Great Game in the Sensitive Areas of High Asia: Exploring Pan-High Asianism as the potential way forward for the Western Pahari, Greater Dardic, Trans-Himalayan, Badakhshan and Sogdiana Belts possibly leading to High Asian Approaches to International Law (HAAIL). Academia.edu (Thesis). Cardiff: Cardiff University. Retrieved 2021-09-27.

[7] "NASA High Mountain Asia Project". University of Washington eScience Institute: NASA High-Mountain Asia Project. Retrieved July 25, 2017.

[8] Song, Chunqia; Huang, Bo; Ke, Linghong; Ye, Qinghua (October 2016). "Precipitation variability in High Mountain Asia from multiple datasets and implication for water balance analysis in large lake basins". Global and Planetary Change. 145: 20–29. Bibcode:2016GPC...145...20S. doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2016.08.005.

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v t e Regions of Asia
Central (The 'stans)	Roof of the World Greater Middle East Aral Sea Aralkum Desert Caspian Sea Dead Sea Sea of Galilee Tartary Transoxiana Turan Greater Khorasan Ariana Arachosia Khwarazm Sistan Kazakhstania Kazakh Steppe Betpak-Dala Eurasian Steppe Kazakh Steppe Mongolian–Manchurian grassland Iranian plateau Altai Mountains Pamir Mountains Tian Shan Badakhshan Wakhan Corridor Wakhjir Pass Mount Imeon Mongolian Plateau Western Regions Taklamakan Desert Karakoram Trans-Karakoram Tract Siachen Glacier Tibetan Plateau
East (Northeast)	Orient Japanese Archipelago Northeastern Japan Arc Sakhalin Island Arc Korea Gobi Desert Taklamakan Desert Greater Khingan Mongolian Plateau Inner Asia Greater Central Asia Inner Mongolia Outer Mongolia China proper Manchuria Northeast China Northeast China Plain Outer Manchuria Mongolian–Manchurian grassland North China Plain Yan Mountains Liaodong Peninsula High-mountain Asia Himalayas Tibetan Plateau Karakoram Kunlun Mountains Qilian Mountains Hengduan Mountains Tarim Basin Qinling Mountains Sichuan Basin Northern Silk Road Hexi Corridor Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau Lingnan Liangguang Jiangnan Jianghuai Guanzhong Huizhou Wu Jiaozhou Zhongyuan Shaannan Ordos Loop Loess Plateau Shaanbei Hamgyong Mountains Central Mountain Range Japanese Alps Suzuka Mountains Leizhou Peninsula Gulf of Tonkin Yangtze Yangtze Delta Yellow River Pearl River Delta Yenisey Basin Altai Mountains Wakhan Corridor Wakhjir Pass Far East/Pacific Asia Ring of Fire Asia–Pacific Tropical Asia
North (Siberia)	Arctic Arctic Circle Inner Asia Northeast Ural Ural Mountains Far East/Pacific Asia Russian Far East Okhotsk–Manchurian taiga Beringia Chukchi Peninsula Kamchatka Peninsula Extreme North Tartary Siberia Baikalia (Lake Baikal) Baraba steppe Khatanga Gulf Transbaikal West Amur Basin Yenisey Gulf Yenisey Basin Sikhote-Alin Kolyma Bering Strait Ring of Fire Outer Manchuria Asia–Pacific
Southeast (East Indies)	Orient Sundaland Mainland/Indochina Northern Triangle temperate forests Maritime/Malay Archipelago Peninsular Malaysia Sunda Islands Greater Sunda Islands Lesser Sunda Islands Indonesian Archipelago/Nusantara Wallacea Timor Philippine Archipelago Luzon Mindanao Visayas Leyte Gulf Gulf of Thailand East Indies Nanyang Alpide belt Far East/Pacific Asia Ring of Fire Asia–Pacific Tropical Asia
South (Indian Subcontinent)	Subregions Eastern Northern Northwestern Southern Orient Greater India Indian subcontinent Himalayas Kangchenjunga Nanda Devi Hindu Kush Bactria Carnatic region Tamilakam Western Ghats Eastern Ghats Ganges Basin Ganges Delta Guzgan Pashtunistan Punjab Balochistan Gedrosia Makran Marathwada Kashmir Kashmir Valley Pir Panjal Range Thar Desert Indus Valley Indus River Delta Indus Valley Desert Indo-Gangetic Plain Eastern Coastal Plains Kalinga Western Coastal Plains Meghalaya subtropical forests Lower Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests Northwestern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows Doab Bagar tract Great Rann of Kutch Little Rann of Kutch Deccan Plateau Coromandel Coast Konkan False Divi Point Hindi Belt Ladakh Aksai Chin Gilgit-Baltistan Baltistan Shigar Valley High-mountain Asia Karakoram Saltoro Mountains Siachen Glacier Bengal Bay of Bengal Gulf of Khambhat Gulf of Kutch Halar Gulf of Mannar Palk Strait Trans-Karakoram Tract Wakhan Corridor Wakhjir Pass Lakshadweep Laccadive Islands Aminidivi Paropamisadae Andaman and Nicobar Islands Andaman Islands Nicobar Islands Maldives Alpide belt Asia–Pacific Tropical Asia Tibetan Plateau
West (Middle East and South Caucasus)	Red Sea Hanish Islands Caspian Sea Mediterranean Sea Zagros Mountains Elam Persian Gulf Pirate Coast Strait of Hormuz Greater and Lesser Tunbs Al-Faw Peninsula Gulf of Oman Gulf of Aqaba Gulf of Aden Balochistan Arabian Peninsula Najd Al-Yamama Hejaz Tihamah Eastern Arabia South Arabia Hadhramaut Arabian Peninsula coastal fog desert Al-Sharat Tigris–Euphrates Mesopotamia Upper Mesopotamia Lower Mesopotamia Sawad Nineveh Plains Akkad (region) Babylonia Suhum Eastern Mediterranean Mashriq Eber-Nari Kurdistan Levant (Syria region) Palestine region Transjordan Jordan Rift Valley Philistia Golan Heights Hula Valley Galilee Canaan Gilead Syrian Desert Judea Samaria Arabah Aram Aram-Naharaim Negev Phoenicia Retjenu Anti-Lebanon Mountains Bekaa valley Levantine Sea Sinai Peninsula Arabian Desert Fertile Crescent Iranian Azerbaijan Hauran Iranian plateau Dasht-e Kavir Armenian Highlands Caucasus Caucasus Mountains Greater Caucasus Lesser Caucasus South Caucasus Shirvan Kur-Araz Lowland Lankaran Lowland Alborz Absheron Peninsula Kartli Anatolia Taurus Mountains Aeolis Paphlagonia Phasiane Isauria Ionia Bithynia Cilicia Cappadocia Caria Corduene Chaldia Doris Lycaonia Lycia Lydia Galatia Pisidia Pontus Mysia Arzawa Speri Sophene Biga Peninsula Troad Tuwana Alpide belt