Another instalment in the amazing shrinking Everest / receding
glaciers saga, or in this case both of them.
No-one would be particularly bothered if, say, Skiddaw was
shrinking, but such is the mountain celebrity pulling power of the
world's highest peak, that every newspaper and his dog is running
stories about Everest possibly shrinking by about four foot.
Note the 'possibly' there. The story appears to be that a Chinese
survey has suggested that Chomolungma may have shrunk by up to four
feet due to glacial recession caused by global warming. Now reports
say that according to China Daily, the State Bureau of Surveying and
Mapping, working with the Chinese national women's mountaineering
expedition, will use radar and GPS equipment to remeasure the
peak.
Somewhat ironically, the last major survey of the mountain in 1999
suggested that it was, in fact, some seven feet higher than
previously believed. Now it's been shrunk again.
It would all be something of a storm in a high altitude cooking
pot, were it not for the extremely serious repercussions of glacial
recession and global warming hitting many regions including the
Khumbu around Everest. As temperatures rise, water levels in mountain
lakes increase and the permafrost which binds the rocks and soil
together starts to melt.
The result can be millions of tons of water held back only by
barricades of gravel, if they give way, local valleys can be swept
with massive floods known as alluvions, already a major problem in
some parts of the Peruvian Andes where thousands have died in such
floods. The Alps are threatened too and the ever-increasing rockfall
in popular mountaineering areas is yet another pointer to the
increases in temperature.
It's understandable that the mass media jump on the Everest
bandwagon at every opportunity, but don't be distracted into thinking
that glacial recession is just about the notional height of
mountains, the underlying problems are far more serious.
More from The
Independent, Sky
News, Nepal
News, TheGuardian,
The
Times and pretty
much every other news source in the world...
Vanilla Ice aka Weird Darren
