The BBC reports that the glaciers on Mount Everest are melting so fast that they are causing large lakes. No only do the lakes make it difficult to scale the mountain, but if the ice dams break up it could cause massive flooding.
“A decade or so ago, there were individual ponds on the Khumbu glacier but in the past five years or so they have begun to get larger and join up,” said Ann Rowan, who led the field study team from the universities of Sheffield and Leeds.
“Particularly, on the left hand side of the lower reaches of the glacier, there is a series of about seven or eight large ponds that are now starting to link and form a big chain,” she told the BBC.
“There is water flowing from the upper part of the glacier through the series of these ponds and that is going to encourage them to join up.
“At present, the glacier appears to be disintegrating, and may form a few large and potentially hazardous lakes on the glacier surface.”