Mount Everest Shows Signs of Significant Ice Loss

New photographs that were taken from the same location as those by explorer George Mallory in 1921, reveal that there has been a significant amount of ice that has disappeared since these photographs were taken.

The latest photographs were taken in 2010 by mountaineer David Breashear, and show that the main Rongbuk Glacier is shrunken and withered compared with Mallory's photographs taken from the same spot in 1921, which showed a powerful white sweep of ice.

The Asia Society arranged for these pictures to be taken, and the team returned to exactly the same vantage points, recreating the shots pixel by pixel.

The findings from the report are proof that over the last 89 years, glacial melt in the Himalayas has been significant.

The Himalayan Mountain Range is not only the highest in the world, it is also home to the largest sub-polar ice reserves in the world.

The melting ice from this mountain range, feeds great rivers of Asia, including the Ganges, Meking, Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, on which hundreds of millions of people rely for their survival.

If the glaciers in the Himalayas continue to melt at the present rate, many of them could virtually disappear in the next 40 years, and if the ice melt that feeds these great rivers slows right down, this could result in drought, and therefore starvation and the need for re-placement for a large part of the population of Asia.

The Sherpas of Nepal, who are excellent mountaineers, have noticed that the rise in the ice melting rate have led to exposed rock faces, and are making Mount Everest harder to climb.

If the ice melt does continue at the current rate, they warn that it could make climbing the world's highest mountain an even harder task than it is now.

Sources:

BBC News

BBC News