A new report revealed that glaciers on Mount Everest have dropped by 28 percent over the last 40 years. The report was made by researchers from Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mount Qomolangma Snow Leopard Conservation Center and Hunan University of Science and Technology.
Researcher Kang Shichang from CAS's State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences said the report findings involve information collated on longitudinal investigations. The said analyses were performed both via remote sensing and actual on-site evaluation.
Aside from the shrinking glaciers, the report also said that Mount Everest or Mount Qomolangma in Tibet has been exuding warmer temperatures in the last 50 years.
Then and Now
"The glacial shrinkage area is compared to the measurements taken in the 1970s," the press release read.
For the rate of glacial shrinkage in the south slope of the mountain, the researchers found a 26 percent decrease.
Now, the nature reserve of the mountain has about 1,476 glaciers, which covers 2,030 square kilometers.
The consequences
Kang, who has led multiple glacier investigation groups, said the consequences of shrinking glaciers are the development of wide glacial lakes and higher levels of rivers.
As per remote sensing, the size of the glacial lake in the mountain's nature reserve increased from 100 square kilometers in 1990 to 114 square kilometers in 2013.
Located between Nepal and China, Mount Everest is the world's largest mountain, standing 8,844 meters high. Large Asian rivers such as those in Ganges and Brahmaputra have the mountain as its source.
In May 2015, international experts warned that the 5,500 glaciers in the Hindu Kush- Himalayan (HKH) area may plummet by 70 to 99 percent come the year 2100. HKH is the home of tallest peaks in the world. If the predicted glacial drop persists, farming and hydropower supply may also be affected.
