Photos reveal ice of the Himalayas disappearing

London, July 17 (ANI): Experts comparing a 1921 photo of Mount Everest with a photo of the same place taken in 2010, have confirmed that the ice mass is disappearing in an "alarming" manner.

The Asia Society (AS) arranged for the pictures to be taken in exactly the same place where British climber George Mallory took photos in 1921.

"The photographs reveal a startling truth: the ice of the Himalaya is disappearing. They reveal an alarming loss in ice mass over an 89-year period," an Asian Society statement said.

Experts say that the evidence is incontrovertible. While Mallory took his photograph on the North side of Mount Everest, mountaineer David Breashears took images from the same spot in 2010.

It shows that the main Rongbuk Glacier is shrunken and withered.

"Returning to the exact same vantage points, Breashears has meticulously recreated their shots, pixel for pixel. The photographs illustrate the severity of the loss of ice mass among the glaciers surrounding Mount Everest," the statement said.

The Asian Society says that the findings are "vitally important" because the Himalaya is home to the world's largest sub-polar ice reserves.

"The melt waters of these high altitude glaciers supply crucial seasonal flows to the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Salween, Irrawaddy, Mekong, Yangtze and Yellow rivers, which hundreds of millions of people downstream depend on for their livelihoods," the statement said.

"If the present rate of melting continues, many of these glaciers will be severely diminished by the middle of this century."

"The melt rate in this region of central and eastern Himalaya is extreme and is devastating," the BBC quoted Breashears as telling an AS meeting in New York on Wednesday.

"If this isn't evidence of the glaciers in serious decline, I don't know what is," Breashears added. (ANI)