Ice On Mount Everest That Took 2,000 Years To Form Melted Away In Just 25 Years

Mount Everest's ice is melting multiple times faster than it took to form. The same ice on Mount Everest that took 2,000 years to form has melted in less than 25 years, scientists said.

Ice on Mount Everest's South Col Glacier (SCG) is disappearing 80 times faster than it formed, a new study published in scientific journal Nature showed.

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Mount Everest's ice is melting at an alarming rate

According to the research, about 55m (180ft) of ice has been lost already. Scientists from the University of Maine fear that the entire glacier could be lost in the next 25 years.

"Thinning could occur in 25 years, over 80 times faster than it took to form the ice now exposed at the surface of SCG," the report said.

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Based on "contemporary thinning rates", several decades of ice accumulation "may be lost on an annual basis now that glacier ice has been exposed," it added.

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The world's highest mountain above sea level, Mount Everest's uppermost region has climate conditions that baffle scientists, making it difficult to understand glacier health.

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A different study by National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Everest Expedition adds that ice on Mount Everest began to decrease in the mid-1800s, gathering pace in the 1950s and later even gaining more speed in 2000s.

As part of this study, a scientific investigation of the Nepalese side of Munt Everest was undertaken whereby scientists went to the top to get some answers. This included extracting an ice corn from the SCG at heights over 1,000 metre (3,200 ft) - the highest place from where ice has ever been extracted.?

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Its radiocarbon dating showed how surface ice was 2,000-years-old, implying all ice formed after that time period had melted away already.

What do you think about the staggering rate of ice melting on Mount Everest? Let us know in the comments below.?For more in the world of?technology?and?science, keep reading?Indiatimes.com.?

References

Siba Jackson.(2022, February 4). Climate change: Mount Everest ice which took 2,000 years to form has melted in just 25, scientists say. Sky News.?