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The South Col glacier rises to approximately 7,900 metres (26,000 ft) above the sea level. It is also a kilometre below Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world.
(Reuters)
The climate crisis has caused dramatic shrinkage in the glacier that is near Mount Everest’s summit. It took many millennia for the ice to form.
According to research published by the University of Maine this week, the South Col formation may have lost approximately 55 metres (180 feet), of thickness over the past 25 years. Nature.
Carbon dating revealed that the top layer of ice was approximately 2,000 years old. This suggests that the glacier was shrinking 80 times faster than it formed, according to the study.
Paul Mayewski, South Col’s lead scientist, told National Geographic that South Col was “probably to disappear within very short decades”.
He added, “It is quite a remarkable transformation.”
Other researchers have confirmed that Himalayan Glaciers are melting at an increasing rate.
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Flood threat
As the glaciers melt, hundreds of lakes are forming in the Himalayan foothills that could burst or unleash floods.
Kami Rita Sherpa from Nepal, who has climbed Everest 25 times since 1994, said Saturday that he had seen the mountain change firsthand.
“We now see rock exposed at places where there was once snow. Not only on Everest, but other mountains are also losing snow and ice. It is very worrying,” Sherpa stated to AFP.
The Himalayan glaciers provide water for almost two billion people who live around the mountains and valleys below.
They feed 10 of the most important rivers in the world and provide energy and food for billions.
Millions of people worldwide are already suffering from the water-related consequences of climate change, according to UNclimate scientists.
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Source: TRTWorld and agencies
