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The problem is that it is immeasurably harder to produce conclusive scientific documentation of those changes - which glaciers are melting and how fast? - and Himalayagate has made scientists especially cautious.

The result, according to Byers, is a big knowledge gap. Scientists have access to satellite images of the Himalayas, but compared with other regions, such as the Andes or the Alps, there is relatively little on-the-ground research. Satellite imagery only gives a partial picture; it can reveal a glacier shrinking in length, but it gives little indication of whether the ice is thinning. In addition, record-keeping on glaciers and temperatures got under way relatively late in Nepal.