Ice on a glacier near the summit of Mount Everest, which took millennia to form, has shrunk dramatically in the last three decades due to climate change, a new study has shown.
The South Col formation may already have lost around 55 meters of thickness in the last 25 years, according to research led by the University of Maine and published recently in the journal Nature.
Carbon dating showed the top layer of ice was around 2,000 years old, suggesting the glacier was thinning over 80 times faster than the time it took to form, Agence France Press (AFP) reported.
At that rate, South Col is "probably going to disappear within very few decades", lead scientist Paul Mayewski told National Geographic. "It's quite a remarkable transition," he added.
The South Col glacier is around 7,900 meters above sea level and one kilometer below the peak of the world's highest mountain. Other researchers have shown that Himalayan glaciers are melting at an accelerating rate. As the glaciers shrink, hundreds of lakes that have formed in the foothills of Himalayan mountains could burst and unleash floods.
Nepali climber Kami Rita Sherpa, who climbed Everest a record 25 times since 1994, told AFP on Saturday he had witnessed changes on the mountain.
"We now see rock exposed in areas where there used to be snow before. Not just on Everest, other mountains are also losing their snow and ice. It is worrying," Sherpa explained.
Himalayan glaciers are a critical water source for nearly two billion people living in the region. They supply 10 of the world's most important river systems and help provide billions of people with food and energy. The water-related impacts of climate change are already experienced daily by millions of people worldwide, according to UN climate scientists.
