Hundreds of climbers camp at the South Col, the southern side of the tall peak, to prepare for their further journey toward the world's roof. At this point, according to EarthSky, climbers in this area are roughly 26,300 feet above sea level. The area's harsh conditions, such as its sub-zero temperature levels and harsh weather, make it impossible for humans to live long there.
Though reaching the top could be a milestone, achievement, or bragging right for climbers, a recent study revealed that climbers on Mount Everest could be leaving behind hardy microbes that may thrive in the mountain's harsh conditions.
Germs Preserved on Mount Everest
In the Mahalangur Himal range of the Himalayas, Mount Everest peaks over all land surfaces across the earth. The mountaintop is 29,031 feet above sea level.
The mountain's high-altitude environments are among earth's most extreme ones. Hence, the researchers were quite shocked to find that microbes that dwelled inside the wet and warm noses and throats stayed dormant and survived the mountain's extreme conditions.
Researchers from the University of Colorado-Boulder have discovered that the germs left behind by climbers can last remarkably long, for decades up to centuries.
Steven Schmidt, the study's senior author and a microbial ecologist from CU Boulder, says that a "human signature frozen" in Everest's microbiome is present, even at such elevation levels.
Science Alert reports that even though Mount Everest has harsh conditions, researchers were able to cultivate fungi and bacteria that were isolated from the sediments of the mountain. Such organisms could have been brought from areas with less harsh conditions to the South Col through humans coughing or sneezing or winds blowing.
The upside of things is that these frozen microbes may not widely affect their surrounding environment. It also demonstrates how human germs can survive in these harsh conditions.
Aside from using the usual cultural techniques involving bacteria growth on rich agar plates, the researchers also sequenced genetic material snippets from the soil to pinpoint particular microbes. Science Alert reports that this is the alleged highest elevation at which samples were ever studied using such an approach.
The study was published in the Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research journal. It may shed light on how tourism affects the world's tallest peak and earth-life limits and the potential for life to thrive beyond earth.
Microbial Life
High UV light concentrations, a lack of water, and lower temperatures lead to higher latitudes microbial deaths. Only the most resilient organisms may survive through conditions as hostile as those on Mount Everest.
While Streptococcus and Staphylococcus bacteria can usually be found in soil, the study's genetic sequences were identical to those that typically colonize the human mouth and skin. Other than this, the samples were collected around 558 feet from where climbers typically camp before journeying toward the summit.
The researchers think that if they sample more human-utilized regions, they could find even more microbial evidence of how humans affect the environment.
Considering South Col temperatures rarely go above -10 degrees Celsius, it is still a mystery whether melting ice water can foster microbial life. It is also not easy to evaluate microbial growth in such settings.
Science Alert reports that the South Col's soil and other areas of high elevation may gather and freeze organisms that people or winds may have brought in. Better lab conditions could have fostered their growth.
However, the air temperature at Mount Everest rises by around 0.33 degrees Celsius each decade. Last July 2022, the South Col had a record high temperature of -1.4 degrees Celsius. Such a trend could activate currently inactive organisms.
The researchers say that the weather station in South Col could shed more light as researchers conduct more observations.
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