Mt Everest glaciers have shrunk 10% in past 40 years

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(TibetanReview.net, Apr25, 2014) – Glaciers on Mount Everest (Tibetan: Jomolangma; Chinese: Qomolangma) had shrunk by 10 percent over the past 40 years, threatening water supply for billions of people in much of Asia over the coming decades, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Apr 24, citing a researcher.

The report cited Kang Shichang, a researcher at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as saying the data was based on long-term remote sensing and on-site monitoring.

The shrinking of the glaciers has led to dangers of flood, with the downstream glacial lake having grown 13 times bigger over the past four decades.

The report cited data as showing that glaciers over the entire Tibetan Plateau cover a total of about 50,000 square kilometers, accounting for more than 80 percent of the PRC’s total.

Kang has said glaciers had started to shrink since the 20th century and speeded up since the 1990s. He has added that glaciers on the plateau are supplementary water sources of many inland rivers and lakes and shrinkage could reduce water flow downstream.

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