Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences studied an ice lake at the source of the Palunzanbu River in southeastern Tibet - it was important for them to understand how the volume of glaciers in this area has changed over the past 8,000 years. It turned out that 4300-2200 years ago there were more glaciers here, and 2200-1600 years ago they began to retreat. At the same time, from 1600 years ago to our time and the beginning of global warming, an active change in the glacial situation took place.
Although changes in glaciers in southeastern Tibet have been influenced by temperature fluctuations in the Northern Hemisphere and solar radiation in summer, over the past 1000 years, the glacial environment has changed under the influence of precipitation and monsoons. Thus, scientists were able to prove that glaciers are influenced not only by the temperature in the Northern Hemisphere, but also by other weather factors.
Similar studies are being carried out to analyze the sharp decline in glaciers in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau - over the past 40 years, the ice area near Everest (Chomolungma) has decreased by 10%, while the area of lakes near the lower part of the glaciers, on the contrary, has increased 13 times. Melting glaciers can negatively affect not only the general state of the environment, but also lead to mudflows and floods, given the growing size of ice lakes.