Mt. Qomolangma glaciers shrink 28% in 40 years: Report

Photo taken on Sept 16, 2015 shows the scenery of Mount Qomolangma, southwest China's Tibet autonomous region. [Photo/Xinhua]

Glaciers on Mount Qomolangma have shrunk by 28 percent over the past 40 years due to climate change, according to a report released over the weekend.

The glacial shrinkage area is compared to the measurements taken in the 1970s. The glacier area on the south slope of the mountain, in Nepal, has decreased 26 percent since the 1980s, according to the report co-released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Hunan University of Science and Technology, and Mount Qomolangma Snow Leopard Conservation Center.

Kang Shichang, a researcher with the State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences under the CAS, said the data was based on long-term remote sensing and on-site monitoring.

At present, there are 1,476 glaciers in China's Mt. Qomolangma national nature reserve, covering 2,030 square kilometers.

The shrinking glaciers have resulted in swelling glacial lakes and higher river levels downstream, said Kang, who has led several glacier inspection teams.

Remote sensing data showed that the area of a glacial lake in Mt. Qomolangma nature reserve increased from about 100 square kilometers in 1990 to 114 square kilometers in 2013, Kang said.

The 8,844-meter-high Mt. Qomolangma, located on the border of China and Nepal, is the world's highest mountain.