Monday, May 08, 2017

The Glaciers Are Going

The Waggonwaybreen glacier in Svalbard. (Photo Credit: Andreas Weith) Click to Enlarge.
As can be seen right, the Waggonwaybreen glacier in Svalbard, Norway, has retreated substantially since 1900.  Svalbard’s glaciers are not only retreating, they are also losing about two feet of their thickness each year.  Glaciers around the world have retreated at unprecedented rates and some have disappeared altogether.  The melting of glaciers will affect people around the world, their drinking water supplies, water needed to grow food and supply energy, as well as global sea levels.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that around the world glaciers (excluding the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets) will decrease in volume between 15 to 55 percent by 2100 even if we are able to limit global warming to under 2˚C; they could shrink up to 85 percent if warming increases much more.

In Earth’s history, there have been at least five major ice ages, when long-term cooling of the planet resulted in the expansion of ice sheets and glaciers.  Past ice ages have been naturally set off by a numerous factors, most importantly, changes in the Earth’s orbit around the sun (Milankovitch cycles) and shifting tectonic plate movements that affect wind and ocean currents.  The mixture of gases in the atmosphere (such as carbon dioxide and methane) as well as solar and volcanic activity are also contributing factors.  Today we are in a warm interval—an interglacial—of the Earth’s fifth ice age.

Read more at The Glaciers Are Going

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