KATHMANDU, Nepal — A team of American scientists flew to the Mount Everest region last week to study how pollution has affected the Himalayan mountains and glaciers that are melting due to global warming.

The team led by John All of Western Washington University plans to spend the next two months in the region collecting samples and studying the ice, snow and vegetation.

In May, the team members will try to climb the 29,035-foot-high Everest, the world’s highest mountain, and its sister peak Mount Lhotse.

The team plans to bring the samples and data and study with local university and government agencies in Nepal. They’ll compare the current results to data All collected on a 2009 visit.

They plan to study the color and mineral content of the snow and ice on higher elevations while collecting plants and other vegetation on the foothills.

“We are looking at how climate change has affected vegetation, we are looking at how climate change has affected the snow and water availability for local people and how it is affecting local people,” All said.

They are going to use instruments to reflect light off the glaciers to determine how much dirt is on the surface.

“The more dirt there is, the more pollution accumulated on them and the more light absorption there is, and thus the larger impact on the glaciers, it is going to melt quickly,” he said.

A year after his research expedition to the Everest region in 2009, All climbed to the summit. A research trip in 2014 ended after the deaths of 16 Nepali Sherpa guides in an avalanche brought an early end to the climbing season.

In May 2014, All fell 72 feet into a crevasse on a different mountain, breaking ribs and his right arm.