Glaciers and Climate Change
Glacier ice is the largest reservoir of freshwater, supporting one third of the world's population. Glaciers exist on all continents except Australia and at virtually all latitudes from the tropics to the poles. “How can a piece of a very large ice effect anything?” was my thought before I truly know what glacier is. According to national snow & ice data center, glaciers are made up accumulation of fallen snow exceeds its ablation over many years, and even centuries. The Earth’s climate has always changed throughout history, whether it’s because of human interference or naturally occur, it affects glacier greatly which cause a domino effect.
We can’t deny the fact that the earth has been warming up rapidly in …show more content…
Although glaciers seem motionless to the observer, glaciers are always in endless motion and the glacier terminus is always either advancing or retreating. However, the cumulative temperate causing the air to be above melting point causing the glacier treating faster than it is advancing. Most glaciers in the world, are sensitive to temperature than to other climatic factors. The ice thickness reduction is followed by glacier shrinkage. According to national geographic, the famed snows of Kilimanjaro have melted more than 80 percent since 1912 and the glaciers in the Garhwali Himalaya in India are retreating so fast it could virtually disappear by 2035. To bring it closer to home, Alaska’s Muir Glacier has retreated about seven miles while ice thickness decreased by more than 2,625 feet, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Since the 19th century, many Alaskan glaciers like Alaska’s Muir Glacier has also retreated and thinned dramatically. If future climate change is consistent, the presently existing mountain glacier ice will disappear by 2050 (Fitzharris, …show more content…
According to NASA, global sea level rose about 8 inches in the last century. The rate in the last two decades, and it nearly double that of the last century. There are two main reason why sea level rises. The first is the most obvious one is the melting of ice on land such as glacier. The second reason is heat because as water gets warmer, it expands which cause the sea level to rise. The Earth has seen sudden climate change and rapid sea level rise before. At the end of the planet’s last glaciation, sea levels rose by more than 13 feet a century as the huge North American ice sheet melted. However, our sea level rising is not because of natural causes. Antarctica and Greenland are the most concerning areas on earth because it hold the majority of the world’s ice. Antarctica’s ice cap hold ninety percent of the planet’s freshwater ice nine percent in Greenland’s. Currently, the Greenland ice sheet is losing about 200 billion tons of ice each year Even though glacier is different from ice sheet, it also a major player in rising the sea level. If that ice sheet melt completely it will have the potential of raising the global sea levels by 23 feet. There has not been any data showing that it is slowing
Glacier ice is the largest reservoir of freshwater, supporting one third of the world's population. Glaciers exist on all continents except Australia and at virtually all latitudes from the tropics to the poles. “How can a piece of a very large ice effect anything?” was my thought before I truly know what glacier is. According to national snow & ice data center, glaciers are made up accumulation of fallen snow exceeds its ablation over many years, and even centuries. The Earth’s climate has always changed throughout history, whether it’s because of human interference or naturally occur, it affects glacier greatly which cause a domino effect.
We can’t deny the fact that the earth has been warming up rapidly in …show more content…
Although glaciers seem motionless to the observer, glaciers are always in endless motion and the glacier terminus is always either advancing or retreating. However, the cumulative temperate causing the air to be above melting point causing the glacier treating faster than it is advancing. Most glaciers in the world, are sensitive to temperature than to other climatic factors. The ice thickness reduction is followed by glacier shrinkage. According to national geographic, the famed snows of Kilimanjaro have melted more than 80 percent since 1912 and the glaciers in the Garhwali Himalaya in India are retreating so fast it could virtually disappear by 2035. To bring it closer to home, Alaska’s Muir Glacier has retreated about seven miles while ice thickness decreased by more than 2,625 feet, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Since the 19th century, many Alaskan glaciers like Alaska’s Muir Glacier has also retreated and thinned dramatically. If future climate change is consistent, the presently existing mountain glacier ice will disappear by 2050 (Fitzharris, …show more content…
According to NASA, global sea level rose about 8 inches in the last century. The rate in the last two decades, and it nearly double that of the last century. There are two main reason why sea level rises. The first is the most obvious one is the melting of ice on land such as glacier. The second reason is heat because as water gets warmer, it expands which cause the sea level to rise. The Earth has seen sudden climate change and rapid sea level rise before. At the end of the planet’s last glaciation, sea levels rose by more than 13 feet a century as the huge North American ice sheet melted. However, our sea level rising is not because of natural causes. Antarctica and Greenland are the most concerning areas on earth because it hold the majority of the world’s ice. Antarctica’s ice cap hold ninety percent of the planet’s freshwater ice nine percent in Greenland’s. Currently, the Greenland ice sheet is losing about 200 billion tons of ice each year Even though glacier is different from ice sheet, it also a major player in rising the sea level. If that ice sheet melt completely it will have the potential of raising the global sea levels by 23 feet. There has not been any data showing that it is slowing