According to researchers, the layers of ice are turning into floods. A study has now identified the rate at which a glacier is shrinking.
Himalaya – Climate change is reaching the highest mountain in the world: The summit glacier of Mount Everest has drastically melted in the past three decades. This was the result of a study by the US University of Maine, which was published in the specialist journal at the beginning of February Nature was published.
The researchers concluded that the glacier is shrinking more than 80 times faster than it took to form. The decline affects the Nepalese side of the mountain, the name of the glacier is “South Col Glacier”. An age determination with the radiocarbon method showed that its top layer of ice was about 2000 years old.
At this rate, the glacier could “probably disappear within a few decades,” study leader Paul Mayewski told the magazine National Geographic.
Climate change affects Mount Everest – New lakes in the Himalayas
Several other research teams have also come to the conclusion in recent years that the glaciers in the Himalayan mountains are melting at an increasing rate.
The “South Col Glacier” is about 7900 meters above sea level, about one kilometer below the summit of Mount Everest. Because of the melt, hundreds of lakes have formed in the foothills of the Himalayas. If the water level continues to rise, there is a risk of flooding in the surrounding areas.
Nepalese mountaineer Kami Rita Sherpa, who has climbed Mount Everest 25 times since 1994, told AFP on Saturday he has witnessed the changes firsthand. “We are now seeing exposed rock in areas where there used to be snow,” he said. “This is worrying.” (french/AFP)
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