Even the world’s tallest mountain is not safe from climate change.
Highlights
- Scientists found that the South Col Glacier is losing ice 80 times faster than it took for ice to accumulate on the glacier’s surface.
- The glacier is currently losing several decades worth of ice accumulation every year.
- The melt could have serious impacts on the mountain, and those who live near it.
- Future research must focus on how widely these melting trends apply to other glaciers at the top of the world, the researchers concluded.
- If the same melting trends occur in other glaciers across the Himalayas, then the glacier-stored water that more than 1 billion people depend on for drinking water and irrigation could start to deplete significantly, the authors said.