Scientists who study the south depression of the highest glacier on Mount Everest report that with the global temperature rising, the ice layer is rapidly losing, and the ice layer is further exposed and becomes fragile due to the thinning of snow.
Because the bedrock is exposed, it will make climbing Mount Everest more challenging. More worrying is the potential impact on people who rely on these glaciers to provide drinking water and agricultural water. The increase of avalanche risk is another problem.
Mariusz Potocki, a glacier chemist from the University of Maine and the first author of the study, said: "The climate forecast of the Himalayas shows that the quality of glaciers continues to decrease, and even the top of Mount Everest is affected by man-made warming."
Using data from weather stations and ice samples-including ice cores collected at an altitude of 8,020 meters (263 12 feet), which is the highest level of such samples-researchers' models show that ice accumulated for decades is lost every year.
The research team reported that the reduction of snowfall is crucial. With the sublimation-climate change accelerates the direct conversion of snow to steam-the ice below is further exposed, and the reflected solar radiation is reduced. The study estimates that about 2 meters (6.6 feet) of water is lost every year.
This new study is part of the ongoing National Geographic and Rolex expedition to Mount Qomolangma 20 19, and its task is to investigate how climate change affects depression in the south and the wider Hindu Kush-Himalayan glacier network.
"It answered a major question that we raised in NGS/ Rolex Everest expedition in 20 19-whether the highest glacier on the earth is affected by man-made climate change." Paul Mayewski, a glaciologist at the University of Maine, said.
"The answer is yes, and it has been very important since the late 1990s."
Researchers' models estimate that glaciers have thinned by about 55 meters (180 feet) in the past 25 years, which is 80 times faster than the ice formed in the past thousands of years. Although the change of Mount Everest is the most drastic since the late 1960s, it seems that the change caused by climate warming has been taking place since the 1960s.
In addition to the rising temperature, scientists also pointed out that the decline in relative humidity and strong winds are the reasons for heavy snow. At present, snow disappears much faster than it is replaced.
As the temperature rises, this situation is happening at the highest point in the world, which is a warning to the global glaciers. The forecast shows that this trend will only develop in one direction, and even glaciers as high as South Australia may disappear in the middle of this century-this is another vivid reminder of how we can change the face of the earth forever.
The researchers wrote in their published paper: "The highest glacier on Mount Everest has become a sentry of this delicate balance and shows that even the roof of the earth is affected by man-made warming."
This study has been published in the NPJ Journal of Climate and Atmospheric Science.