30 May 2007
Everest ice forest melting due to global warming
(Guardian) One of the world's most spectacular ice formations - the towering serac forest near Mount Everest's base camp - is rapidly shrinking as a result of global warming, Greenpeace has announced. Before and after photographs released by the environmental group show how the past 40 years of climate change are transforming the Himalayan landscape as ancient glaciers melt and retreat higher up the slopes. The first photograph, taken in 1968, shows a long valley filled with white seracs, tilting pinnacles of ice as high as 20 metres that form on Rongbuk glacier on the northern slopes of Everest. In the second photograph, taken this spring, the ice forest has virtually disappeared. The remaining seracs are barely visible on the right of the picture, where they have retreated far up the slopes. Last month, a report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forecast that if current trends continue, 80% of Himalayan glaciers will be gone in 30 years.