According to foreign media reports on the 4th, a new study shows that climate change caused by human activities has affected the highest point of the earth - The South Col Glacier, the highest glacier on Mount Everest, is melting at an alarming rate, losing the ice accumulated for decades every year. Scientists have found that the ice that took 2,000 years to form on the South Ao Glacier has melted in about 25 years, which means that the ice is melting about 80 times faster than it is forming.
The disappearance of glacial ice could make Everest climbing expeditions even more dangerous for decades to come.
The astonishing discovery is a wake-up call for planet that rapid melting of glaciers at the planet's highest peak could have worsening climate impacts, including more frequent avalanches and water drying up. Notably, about 1.6 billion people in the surrounding area rely on these water sources for drinking, irrigation and hydropower. At the same time, the disappearance of glacial ice could make Everest's climbing expeditions even more dangerous for decades to come.
Ice accumulated over decades melts in a year
The South Ao Glacier "may disappear in a few decades"
The study was published on the 3rd in the journal "Nature Portfolio" "Climate and Atmospheric Science", and the research team was mainly composed of scientists from the University of Maine in the United States, Nepalese researchers and a number of climbers. In 2019, aiming to study the melting of glaciers in the highest region of the world, the expedition visited the South Pass Glacier on Mount Everest (about 8,020 meters above sea level) and extracted a cylindrical ice core up to 10 meters long from the glacier with drilling equipment. In addition, they built two of the highest automated weather stations on land on glaciers, using the data they collected to answer the question: Are the most unreachable glaciers on Earth affected by climate change associated with human activities?
▲ Nan'ao Glacier ice core (8220 meters) (red arrow) and the location of the weather station (8430 meters) position (yellow arrow), the foreground is the South Pass camp
"The answer is yes, and it's been very obvious since the late 1990s." Paul Mayevsky, leader of the expedition and director of the University of Maine's Institute for Climate Change, said that by studying ice cores taken from the South Pass Glacier and analyzing data from weather stations and satellite imagery, the researchers found that climate change not only affected reaching the world's highest mountaintop, but also disrupted the critical balance provided by snow on the glacier's surface area, which would accelerate the melting of glaciers. Due to exposure to solar radiation, glaciers will no longer be able to reflect radiation from the sun once the snow layer turns to ice, and this shift to ice means that the melting rate of the area will increase.
▲From 1950 to 2020, the air temperature of the South Pass Glacier has increased at an average annual rate, and the relative humidity has decreased on an average annual basis
Analysis of ice cores shows that the ice on the surface of the South Pass Glacier is about 2,000 years old. The researchers note that glaciers have shifted from being made up of snow to being predominantly ice-based, and this change may have begun as early as the 1950s. But since the late 1990s, climate change has had the most dramatic impact on glaciers. Assuming that the rate at which ice has been deposited has remained constant over time, about 55 meters of ice has been lost over the past 25 years, meaning it has melted about 80 times faster than the top layer of the glacier that formed. Maevsky added: "Glacier melting may have lasted throughout the period of human occupation of the mountains, and it all happened very quickly. Due to rising temperatures, falling humidity and strong winds, if this rate of ice loss continues, the South Pass Glacier "may disappear completely by the middle of this century."
Melting glaciers will affect more than a billion people
Climbing Everest will become more dangerous in the future
In addition to these key climate findings, the rapid melting of glaciers also poses a threat to those who rely on glaciers for drinking water and irrigation, with about 1.6 billion people in the Himalayas relying on glaciers for drinking, irrigation and hydroelectric power. Marius Potocki, the study's author and glaciologist at the University of Maine, added: "Climate projections for the Himalayas suggest that sustained warming and sustained loss of glacier mass affect even the top of Mount Everest. ”
▲ Glacier melting may even destabilize the "Everest Base Camp" Khumbu Glacier
At the same time, the disappearance of glacial ice could lead to more exposure to bedrock, which could make Everest's climbing expeditions even more dangerous for decades to come. Avalanches will become more active due to the instability of the ice. The melting of the glaciers could even destabilize the "Everest Base Camp" Khumbu Glacier, which is home to many climbers and logistics teams throughout the climbing season. Waters, a professional climber, said: "Since I first went to the Himalayas 20 years ago, I have noticed that many glaciers in and around the Everest region have undergone considerable changes. ”
"We know the oceans are polluted and the oceans are warming and acidifying. We also know that even in the middle of winter, the warm masses reach the Arctic, making temperatures there higher than freezing. At some point in the summer, the entire surface of Greenland's ice is melting. Maevsky said the findings confirm that climate change is fundamentally changing some of the world's most remote regions, "and now, we have evidence that even the highest glaciers on the world's tallest peaks are rapidly melting." So, this is a real wake-up call. Polar bears have long been an iconic symbol of warming and sea ice loss in the Arctic, and we hope what happens high on Mount Everest will be another iconic calling and demonstration. ”
Red Star News reporter Hu Yiling
Edited by Guo Yu
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