It is an astonishing image that shows the beauty and majesty of the Himalaya region.

A climber and filmmaker has created the stunning mosaic of images to show the effect of climate change on the the area surrounding Mount Everest.

The 477 individual images that make up the gigapixel image of the Khumbu glacier were captured by David Breashears during the spring of 2012, from the Pumori viewpoint near Mount Everest.

Mount Everest is the Earth's highest mountain, with a peak at 8,848 metres above sea level.

In 1865, Everest was given its official English name by the Royal Geographical Society upon a recommendation by Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India. Waugh named the mountain after his predecessor in the post, Sir George Everest.

It has become a mecca for climbers, and has two main climbing routes, the southeast ridge from Nepal and the north ridge from Tibet.

The southeast ridge is technically easier and was the route used by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953 when they reached the summit for the first time.