Climate Change May Shrink the Glaciers of Mount Everest by 70 Percent by 2100

Scientists have taken a closer look at the glaciers on the top of the world in order to better understand what changes they may undergo in the coming decades. It turns out that if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, glaciers in the Everest region may experience severe melting.

"The signal of future glacier change in the region is clear: continued and possibly accelerated mass loss from glaciers is likely given the projected increase in temperatures," said Joseph Shea, leader of the new study, in a news release.

In order to understand what glacier melt may occur in the future, the researchers used a model to track glacier melt. They found that glacier volume could be reduced between 70and 99 percent by 2100. That said, the results depend on how much greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise and how this will affect temperature. With that said, the results do indicate that the glaciers may be highly sensitive to changes in temperature.

Glaciers in high Mountain Asia, a region that includes the Himalayas, contain the largest volume of ice outside the polar regions. In this case, the team studied glaciers in the Dudh Kosi basin in the Nepal Himalaya, which is home to some of the world's highest mountain peaks, including Mt Everest.

Part of the glacier response is due to changes in the freezing level, the elevation where mean monthly temperatures are zero degrees Celsius. The projected increase in temperatures, though, would reduce snow accumulations over the glaciers and expose over 90 percent of current glacier area to melt I the warmer months.

The findings are important for better understanding how glacier melt may impact the region in the future.

The findings are published in the journal The Cryosphere.

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