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- Ice temperatures inside the world’s highest glacier on the slopes of Mount Everest are warmer than expected and especially vulnerable to future climate change
- In 2017 the EverDrill project research team led by the University of Leeds became the first to successfully drill into Khumbu Glacier in Nepal and record temperatures deep below the surface layer
- The resulting measurement and analysis, published this week in Scientific Reports, revealed a minimum ice temperature of only −3.3 °C, with even the coldest ice being a full 2 °C warmer than the mean annual air temperature
- These results indicate that high-elevation Himalayan glaciers are vulnerable to even minor atmospheric warming and will be especially sensitive to future climate warming
- ‘Warm’ ice is particularly vulnerable to climate change because even small increases in temperature can trigger melting.
- “Internal temperature has a significant impact on the complex dynamics of a glacier, including how it flows, how water drains through it and the volume of meltwater runoff – which makes up a crucial part of the water supply for millions of people in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region
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