http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2004/12/10/sections/news/focus_science_environment/article_339047.php

Orange County Science Notes

By GARY ROBBINS
The Orange County Register

CLIMATE ADVANCE: Atmospheric physicist Charlie Zender and his graduate
student, Mark Flanner, have created a computer model that better
predicts the thickness of snow in the Tibetan Plateau, which provides
at least some water for almost half the world's population. The
snowmelt also influences the intensity of the summer monsoon in
India. Flanner is headed for the American Geophysical Union conference
in San Francisco, where he will explain the advance to other
scientists.