Extensive Glacial Retreat In Mount Everest While World Enters Danger Zone
By Countercurrents.org
15 May, 2013
Countercurrents.org
Mount Everest is shedding its frozen cloak [1] while the historic peak level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will soon become the global annual average as the world enters danger zone in terms of CO2 [2].
Scientists have been studying temperature and precipitation trends in the Mount Everest area and found that the Everest region has been warming while snowfall has been declining since the early 1990s.
Members of the team conducting these studies were scheduled to present their findings on this month at the Meeting of the Americas in Cancun, Mexico -- a scientific conference organized and co-sponsored by the American Geophysical Union.
Glaciers in the Mount Everest region have shrunk by 13 percent in the last 50 years and the snowline has shifted upward by 180 meters, according to Sudeep Thakuri, who is leading the research as part of his PhD graduate studies at the University of Milan in Italy.
Glaciers smaller than one square kilometer are disappearing the fastest and have experienced a 43 percent decrease in surface area since the 1960s. Because the glaciers are melting faster than they are replenished by ice and snow, they are revealing rocks and debris that were previously hidden deep under the ice. These debris-covered sections of the glaciers have increased by about 17 percent since the 1960s, according to Thakuri. The ends of the glaciers have also retreated by an average of 400 meters since 1962, his team found.
The researchers suspect that the decline of snow and ice in the Everest region is from human-generated GHG altering global climate.
However, they have not yet established a firm connection between the mountains' changes and climate change, Thakuri said.
He and his team determined the extent of glacial change on Everest and the surrounding 1,148 square kilometer Sagarmatha National Park by compiling satellite imagery and topographic maps and reconstructing the glacial history.
Their statistical analysis shows that the majority of the glaciers in the national park are retreating at an increasing rate, Thakuri said.
To evaluate the temperature and precipitation patterns in the area, Thakuri and his colleagues have been analyzing hydro-meteorological data from the Nepal Climate Observatory stations and Nepal's Department of Hydrology and Meteorology.
The researchers found that the Everest region has undergone a 0.6 degree Celsius increase in temperature and 100 millimeter decrease in precipitation during the pre-monsoon and winter months since 1992.
"The Himalayan glaciers and ice caps are considered a water tower for Asia since they store and supply water downstream during the dry season," said Thakuri. "Downstream populations are dependent on the melt water for agriculture, drinking, and power production."
CO2
After seeing carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere surpass a historic threshold last week, the World Meteorological Organization warned on May 14, 2013:
The world should brace for the new peak level to soon become the global annual average.
"At the current rate of increase, the global annual average CO2 concentration is set to cross the 400 parts per million (ppm) threshold in 2015 or 2016," the UN agency said in a statement.
Climate scientists last week measured 400.03 ppm of CO2 at a Hawaii station considered the global benchmark site for atmospheric observations -- marking the first time in human history that the level has clearly surpassed the symbolic 400 ppm threshold.
This level has not existed on Earth in three to five million years -- a time when temperatures were several degrees warmer and the sea level was 20 to 40 meters (22 to 44 yards) higher than today, experts say.
Several other stations in the Arctic and on the Canary Islands have over the past year also reported daily mean values exceeding the 400 ppm mark, but the benchmark Hawaii measurement sparked particular alarm, with the UN's climate chief Christiana Figueres warning May 13, 2013 the world had "entered a new danger zone".
Before the industrial revolution, when man first started pumping carbon into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels, CO2 levels were about 280 ppm -- rising steadily since records began in the 1950s.
The WMO pointed out May 14, 2013 that the average annual amount of CO2 in the atmosphere reached 390.9 ppm in 2011, or 140 percent above the "balanced" pre-industrial level, and stressed there had been an average increase of 2.0 ppm each year for the past decade.
The 400 ppm symbolic threshold had been expected to be breached for some time, but campaigners say it should nevertheless serve as a wake-up call in efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and thus global warming.
The UN is targeting a maximum temperature rise of two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) on pre-industrial levels for what scientists believe would be manageable climate change.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which informs policy makers, has said atmospheric CO2 must be limited to 400 ppm for a temperature rise of 2-2.4 degrees Celsius (3.6 and 4.3 degrees Fahrenheit).
Many scientists however believe we are heading towards warming levels of between 3.0 and 4.0 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.
Ref.
[1] Story Source:
The story is reprinted from materials provided by American Geophysical Union. The original article was written by Sudeep Thakuri, Graduate School of Earth, Environment and Biodiversity, University of Milan, Milan, MB, Italy, and Water Research Institute, National Research Council, Brugherio, MB, Italy and colleagues.
Source:
American Geophysical Union (2013, May 13). Scientists find extensive glacial retreat in Mount Everest region. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 15, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2013/05/130513174811.htm
[2] AFP, May 14, 2013, “Historic carbon peak soon to become global average: WMO”,
http://www.afp.com/en/news/topstories/historic-carbon-peak-soon-become-global-average-wmo
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