Thursday, 03 February 2022
Ice from the highest glacier on the world's tallest mountain, Mount Everest, took around 2,000 years to build up, but it has melted in around 25 years, according to a new study.
The South Col Glacier has melted 80 times faster than it formed, a study published in Nature Portfolio Journal Climate and Atmospheric Science found.
While the glacier is mostly out of reach, the study concludes human effects of climate change are working to cause the ice melt at the farthest reaches of Earth.
''The answer is a resounding yes, and very significantly since the late 1990s,'' University of Maine Climate Change Institute expedition leader Paul Mayewski told CNN.
''It's a complete change from what has been experienced in that area, throughout probably all of the period of occupation by humans in the mountains, and it's happened very fast.''
Mayewski's team of scientists visited the South Col Glacier in 2019 to collect samples from a 10-meter ice core and install weather stations to collect data at the two highest points on Earth. One was at the ''death zone'' about 8,000 meters, which lacks enough oxygen to sustain life beyond short periods of time, according to the report.
The fact the glacier's ice core has been exposed after years of being snowpacked means it can no longer reflect radiation from the sun and has melted more rapidly.
''Polar bears have been the iconic symbol for warming of the Arctic and the loss of sea ice,'' Mayewski told CNN. ''We're hoping that what's happened high up on Everest will be another iconic call and demonstration.'
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