Himalayan glaciers have lost ice 10 times more quickly over the last few decades than on average since the last major glacier expansion 400-700 years ago, a period known as the "Little Ice Age", a study has said.

It warned that accelerating melting of the Himalayan glaciers threatens the water supply of millions of people in Asia.

The Himalayan range is home to the world's third-largest amount of glacier ice, after Antarctica and the Arctic, and is often referred to as "The Third Pole".

The study, led by the University of Leeds, also points out that Himalayan glaciers are shrinking far more rapidly than glaciers in other parts of the world, a rate of loss the researchers describe as "exceptional" as they lost around 40 per cent of their area.

The research is the latest confirmation that the changes in the Himalayan glaciers are accelerating.

The paper -- Accelerated Mass Loss of Himalayan Glaciers Since the Little Ice Age -- published in Scientific Reports made a reconstruction of the size and ice surfaces of 14,798 Himalayan glaciers during the Little Ice Age.

"The researchers calculate that the glaciers have lost around 40 per cent of their area -- shrinking from a peak of 28,000 sq km to around 19,600 sq km today," said a release here.

During that period, they have also lost between 390 cubic km and 586 cubic km of ice -- the equivalent of all the ice contained today in the central European Alps, the Caucasus, and Scandinavia combined.

The water released through that melting has raised sea levels across the world by between 0.92 mm and 1.38 mm, the team calculates, the release said.