Mount Everest: Carbon dating shows top layer of ice is 2,000 years old, says study. (Representative)
Kathmandu:
A new study has shown that ice on a glacier near the summit of Mount Everest, which took millennia to form, has shrunk dramatically over the past three decades.
The South Col formation has already lost about 55 meters (180 feet) of thickness over the past 25 years, according to research led by the University of Maine and published this week by Nature.
The study said that carbon dating showed that the upper layer of ice was about 2,000 years old, showing that the glacier was thinning 80 times faster than it took to form.
At that rate, the South Col “was probably going to disappear within a very few decades”, lead scientist Paul Mayewski told National Geographic.
“It’s quite a remarkable transition,” he said.
The South Col Glacier is approximately 7,900 meters (26,000 ft) above sea level and one kilometer below the top of the world’s highest mountain.
Other researchers have shown that Himalayan glaciers are melting rapidly.
As glaciers shrink, hundreds of lakes form in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains that can burst and cause floods.
Nepalese mountaineer Kami Rita Sherpa, who has climbed Everest a record 25 times since 1994, told AFP news agency on Saturday that he had seen the change for the first time on the mountain.
“Now we see rocks exposed in areas where there used to be snow. Not only Everest, other mountains are also losing their snow and ice. This is worrying,” Sherpa told AFP.
The glaciers of the Himalayas are an important water source for the approximately two billion people living around the mountains and river valleys.
They feed 10 of the world’s most important river systems and also help supply food and energy to billions of people.
According to UN climate scientists, millions of people around the world are already experiencing the water-related effects of climate change.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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