Rongbuk Glacier

Rongbuk Glacier

Rongbu glacier is located in the Himalayas of Tibet. The glacier has two tributaries: the East Rongbu glacier and the West Rongbu glacier. Rongbu glacier flows northward to form Rongbu Valley in the north of Mount Everest. Rongbu glacier originated from Mount Everest.

Introduction to glaciers

Rongbu glacier is located at the foot of Mount Qomolangma, with an altitude of 5300m to 6300m. It is composed of the West Rongbu glacier and the middle Rongbu glacier.

The Mount Everest area is the activity center of Chinese mainland glaciers. There are 15 mountain glaciers in the area of 10 square kilometers, the most famous of which is the compound valley glacier - the flannel glacier, which is 22.4 kilometers long and has an area of 85.4 square kilometers.

The average width of Rongbu glacier tongue is 1.4km, the average thickness is 120m, and the thickest is more than 300m. It is one of the most magnificent scenery in Tibet. These glaciers are of various types, with an upper limit of 7260 meters. The glaciers are mainly supplied by the metamorphism of snow cover in the Indian Ocean monsoon belt.

On the glacier, there are various kinds of beautiful and rare ice Pagoda Forest, ice velvet, ice bridge, ice pagoda and so on. There are also ice cliffs as high as tens of meters, light and dark ice fissures with traps step by step, and dangerous ice avalanche and avalanche areas.

There are 15 mountain glaciers with an area of more than 10 square kilometers on Mount Everest. The largest Rongbu glacier is 26 kilometers long, with an average thickness of 120 meters, and the thickest part is more than 300 meters. These glaciers are of various types, with an upper limit of 7260 meters. The glaciers are mainly supplied by the metamorphism of snow cover in the Indian Ocean monsoon belt. Among them, the largest and most famous is the compound valley glacier Rongbu glacier. The average width of Rongbu glacier tongue is 14 km, with an area of 86.89 square kilometers.

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After arriving at the mountaineering base camp, go to the ice tower forest - Glacier world for about 3-4 hours.

The origin of the name

Rongbu glacier should be named from the lower Rongbu valley of Mount Qomolangma in the south of Basong Township, Dingri County, Xigaze Prefecture, Tibet.

There is a famous Rongbu temple, which is located at the top of Zhuoma (Tara) on the East and west side of Rongbu valley. It is 90 kilometers away from the county residence, with an altitude of 5800 meters. The terrain is steep and cold. It is the highest temple in the world, so the landscape is wonderful.

Rongbu temple was built in 1899 by the red Lama Awang danzengrub. It has a history of more than 100 years and believes in Ningma school.

There are Buddha statues such as Sakyamuni and lianhuasheng on the front of the main hall of Rongbu temple. Monks and nuns lived in the same temple to carry out Buddhist activities. In its heyday, there were more than 300 monks and more than 300 bhiksunis, and more than 20 halls. Now there are 11 monks and eight bhiksunis, with a chanting hall and a hall.

Every year, a three-day God skipping activity is held on April 15 of the Tibetan calendar, and a grand exorcism ceremony is held on November 29 of the Tibetan calendar. In 1983, the temple underwent large-scale construction. The murals here are worth watching carefully.

Rongbu temple is built close to the mountain. The Rongbu river at its foot is an ice water river formed by some springs of three glaciers on the north slope of Mount Qomolangma: East Rongbu glacier, middle Rongbu glacier and West Rongbu glacier.

As mentioned above, "Shigatse", "Basong township" and "Mount Everest", Rongbu is of course a transliteration of Tibetan.

formation

Glaciers are formed by the earth's gravity and the ice and snow that never melt move slowly along the valley. The huge ice tower forest of Rongbu glacier is as high as 40 meters or even 50 meters. All kinds of natural shapes are unmatched by artificial carving.

In the front of Rongbu glacier, we can see some strange natural glaciers, such as glacial Pagoda Forest, glacial erosion lake, iceberg, Jiaofeng, Daoji, etc. There are many kinds of ice pagodas, some like sharp swords, some like ancient temple bell towers, and some like ice tables, ice bridges, icicles and ice caves. The shape of the ice cone is like a sharp sword straight into the Cang curve, and also like a group of animals in various shapes. The deep ice caves and tortuous glaciers make visitors feel as if they are walking into a crystal palace.

Glacier wonder

Due to the low latitude, strong solar radiation and different microclimates on the surface of glaciers, the differential melting of ice surface ("differential melting" refers to the different melting speed of ice) has formed many wonderful scenery. On the glacier, there are various kinds of beautiful and rare ice Pagoda Forest, ice velvet, ice bridge, ice pagoda and so on. There are also ice cliffs as high as tens of meters, light and dark ice fissures with traps step by step, and dangerous ice avalanche and avalanche areas.

On the glacier about 5800 meters, you can see that it is white. The Heavenly Creations are marvelous and dazzling. They are like the hanging rocks of ancient castles, with distinct layers. The tall stone pillars, stalagmites, stone swords and stone pagodas formed by weathered rocks are in groups, with thousands of styles, stretching for several kilometers.

Because of the wonderful scenery, it is known as the world's largest "park on high mountains" by mountaineers. Three glaciers converge and extend northward, holding up the towering Everest.

Mount Qomolangma is like a giant pyramid, the top straight into the sky, very spectacular. Gazing at Mount Everest, people will be immersed in the atmosphere of transcendence, grandeur and solemnity for a long time.

Ice mushroom is a large stone block supported by thin icicles, some of which can be as high as 5 meters. The ice bridge is like a crystal link, connecting the two scarps. It seems that it is intended to "protect media" for the two scarps. The ice wall is steep and upright, like a huge screen, which is daunting.

Ice buds and ice needles can be seen everywhere as embellishments of strange beauty. The most amazing thing is the various kinds of ice Pagoda Forest. At an altitude of 5700 meters to 6300 meters, it is the "crystal pagoda" - the world of ice tower forest.

On the Rongbu glacier on the northern slope of Mt. Everest, there is a 5.5km long forest belt of ice towers. Milky white ice towers have sprung up, one after another, as high as tens of meters. Some are like majestic pyramids; some are like solemn ancient temple bell towers; some are like sharp swords, piercing the sky; some are like gentle giraffes, walking peacefully, all shining and dazzling. No wonder people say that entering the ice tower forest is like putting yourself in the fairyland of heaven.

Scientific research information

Kang Shichang, leader of the comprehensive scientific expedition team and head of the glacier research group in the Everest region in 2005, said that the observation shows that the area of the glacier melting area in the Everest region is expanding. Professor Kang Shichang retreated from Qianjin camp, 6500 meters above the sea level, to the base camp of Mount Everest on May 1. He said that due to the impact of global warming, glacier retreat in the Everest region is strong. The area of glacier melting area in dongrongbu area, which is 6520 meters above sea level, has expanded from 6300 meters above sea level last year to 6400 meters this year.

The expansion of the glacier melting area in the East Rongbu area of Mt. Everest is not only affected by global warming, but also caused by the intense glacier melting in 2004.

Professor Kang Shichang said that most of the material balance observation poles erected by the scientific research team at the East Rongbu glacier pass of Mt. Everest in 2004 have been lost, indicating that the strong retreat of glaciers in the Mt. Everest region led to the collapse of these poles.

During the observation, the researchers also found that the area of glacial lake (or glacial lake) located in the Rongbu glacier zone of Mt. Qomolangma is also expanding, which is also caused by the expansion of melting area of Rongbu glacier in Mt. Qomolangma. With the rapid melting of glaciers in the Everest region, the glaciers in the whole Tibetan Plateau are also in a state of intense retreat. Through geological remote sensing monitoring and in-depth field investigation, the expert group of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau eco geological environment remote sensing survey and monitoring project found that in the 1970s, the glacier area of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau was 48859.18 square kilometers. By the beginning of this century, the area of glaciers had become 44438.40 square kilometers. In the past 30 years, the glacier area has decreased by 4420.78 square kilometers, with an average annual decrease of 147.36 square kilometers, with a total reduction rate of 9.05%. The tongue of most glaciers is in a state of retreat, and most of the snow lines are rising, up to several hundred meters at most.

environmental effect

In the past 50 years, the global average temperature has increased by about 0.7 degrees Celsius, which has brought some adverse changes to the global environment. In the past 40 years, the average temperature of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau has increased by about 1 degree, which has led to significant changes in the ice tower forest of Rongbu glacier on the northern slope of Mount Everest.

From 1966 to 1975, in the Rongbu glacier on the northern slope of Mount Everest, there were many ice towers, which made people forget to return. At that time, in the ice tower forest of Rongbu glacier at an altitude of 5300-6500 meters, the scenery was strange and beautiful, which attracted people's attention.

In 1966, the beautiful and tall "ice mushroom" made people look very small; in the place where the trickling stream flows through, there are often ice caves like crystal palace, and there are many "bell milk ice" hanging at the entrance of the cave, which shows the deep mystery of the ice cave. When we walk in the mysterious forest of ice towers, it seems that we have entered a mythical fairyland.

In 1975, you can see that in the ice tower forest with an elevation difference of 30-50 meters, there are ice lakes like mirrors, which seem to be a special dressing tool for various "ice tower goddess". When we walk through the forest of ice towers, there is a great difference in height between us and the ice towers,

Chinese PinYin : Rong Bu Bing Chuan