Follow for more talkers

Climate change causing glaciers on Mount Everest to melt

Avatar photo

Published

on
himalaya mountains in sunrise time

By Mark Waghorn via SWNS

Mount Everest's highest glaciers are melting because of manmade climate change, according to new research.

The shock discovery shows global warming has reached the roof of the Earth, say scientists.

Several decades of accumulation are being lost annually now ice - previously protected by snow - is being exposed.

Lead author Professor Paul Mayewski, of the University of Maine, said: "It answers one of the big questions posed by our 2019 NGS/Rolex Mount Everest Expedition — whether the highest glaciers on the planet are impacted by human-sourced climate change.

"The answer is a resounding yes, and very significantly since the late 1990s."

The finding is based on an analysis of the highest ice core ever recovered - more than 26,300 feet up.

It increases the risk of avalanches - endangering the lives of roughly 800 climbers who attempt to scale Mount Everest each year.

Signpost way to mount Everest b.c. Trek from Jiri.
(Photo by Structured Vision via Shutterstock)

Over one billion people in Asia depend on rivers fed by the glaciers for their drinking water, food and livelihoods.

The extreme sensitivity of the high-altitude Himalayan ice masses reduces capacity of the stored meltwater.

At the rate at which the highest glaciers are vanishing, Mount Everest expeditions could be climbing over more exposed bedrock. This may make it more challenging as snow and ice cover continues to thin in the coming decades.

The latest research results from the 2019 National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Everest Expedition shed fresh light on the impacts for life on Earth as temperatures rise.

They serve as a "bellwether" for other high-mountain glacier systems and the potential impacts as mass declines.

The study points to the critical balance snow-covered surfaces provide, explained Prof Mayewski.

There is "potential for loss throughout high mountain glacier systems as snow cover is depleted by changes in sublimation - passing from a solid to vapor state - and surface melt driven by climate trends."

Prof Mayewski added: "Everest's highest glacier has served as a sentinel for this delicate balance and has demonstrated that even the roof of the Earth is impacted by anthropogenic source warming."

His international team investigated the timing and cause of significant mass loss on South Col Glacier.

Climber in Himalayan mountain
(Photo by Photo Volcano via Shutterstock)

They combined data from a 33-foot long ice core and weather stations, photogrammetric and satellite imagery and other records.

Current thinning rates were estimated at more than six and a half feet of water a year now the glacier has turned from snowpack to ice.

Its ability to reflect rays from the sun has been lost - resulting in rapid melting and increased sublimation.

Once South Col Glacier ice was regularly exposed, about 180 feet of thinning is estimated to have occurred in a quarter-century. This is more than 80 times faster than the nearly 2,000 years it took to form the ice at the surface.

Increasing overall surface ice mass loss in the region could have been triggered by climate change since the 1950s, with sublimation enhanced by rising air temperatures.

The impacts of climate change on the glacier have been most intense since the late 1990s.

Computer simulations found the region's extreme insolation means loss of surface mass by melting or vaporization can accelerate by a factor of more than 20 if snow cover gives way to ice.

And while warming air temperatures caused most of the sublimation, declining relative humidity and stronger winds also were factors.

Co-author Mariusz Potocki, a Ph.D. candidate at Maine, added: "Climate predictions for the Himalaya suggest continued warming and continued glacier mass loss, and even the top of the Everest is impacted by anthropogenic source warming."

At 29,032 feet, Mount Everest - located between Nepal and Tibet - is considered the tallest point on Earth. The study is in Nature Portfolio Journal Climate and Atmospheric Science.

Stories and infographics by ‘Talker Research’ are available to download & ready to use. Stories and videos by ‘Talker News’ are managed by SWNS. To license content for editorial or commercial use and to see the full scope of SWNS content, please email [email protected] or submit an inquiry via our contact form.

Top Talkers