The Himalayas Are in Even Worse Shape Than We Thought

New research shows just how much global warming is eating away at the glaciers on the world's highest peaks. From a report: A new study published this week in Science Advances offers one of the most comprehensive views of what's happening to the glaciers in the Himalayas -- and what it means for the people who live below them. The study, led by Joshua Maurer, a Ph.D. candidate at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, analyzed 40 years worth of satellite images of around 650 glaciers across more than 1,200 miles of India, China, Nepal, and Bhutan. One of the largest ice loss studies to date (in both area and timespan), it not only confirms that climate change is the main contributing factor to glacial retreat in high-mountain Asia, but also reveals how fast rising temperatures are changing the face of the planet. According to the study, glaciers in the region have been losing the equivalent of more than a vertical foot and a half of ice each year since the turn of the millennia -- which is twice the rate of melting between 1975 to 2000.

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