{"id":518039,"date":"2010-04-06T14:47:55","date_gmt":"2010-04-06T18:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/green.yahoo.com\/blog\/greenpicks\/276\/images-of-disappearing-glaciers.html"},"modified":"2010-04-06T14:47:55","modified_gmt":"2010-04-06T18:47:55","slug":"images-of-disappearing-glaciers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/518039","title":{"rendered":"Images of disappearing glaciers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melting glaciers have become a well-known symbol of climate change.<\/p>\n

Why? \u201cIt\u2019s one of the simplest indicators of climate change,\u201d says Eric Rignot, a senior research scientist at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion
\nLaboratory and a professor at the University of California, Irvine. \u201cGlaciers melt when temperatures are increasing. It\u2019s just basic physics.\u201d <\/p>\n

We also have access to numerous images of disappearing glaciers<\/a>. Yet sometimes it\u2019s hard to know exactly what the pictures are showing.<\/p>\n

Below are some of the best photos that glaciologists say illustrate what they are seeing \u2014 a worldwide retreat in glaciers due to warming temperatures. The photos represent what is happening both in an individual glacier and in the various regions around the world.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need to be a scientist to appreciate the magnitude of change of these glaciers,\u201d says Rignot. \u201cThere shouldn\u2019t be any doubt about these images.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Jakobshavn\"
\n
(Photo: NASA)<\/em>
\nJakobshavn Isbrae, Greenland<\/strong>
<\/center><\/p>\n

Glaciologists agree that Jakobshavn<\/a> is a good example of what\u2019s happening with glaciers because it has a longer record than most glaciers. There is data going back as far as 1850. Jakobshavn was retreating slowly for a long time, but then in 2000 the glacier started retreating much more rapidly.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, three of the biggest glaciers in Greenland changed dramatically in the same time period, according to Leigh Stearns, an assistant professor at the University of Kansas. \u201cThese glaciers are really dynamic and they are changing much faster than we thought ice sheet glaciers could change,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Grinnell
\n
Left: 1938. Right: 2005. (Photo: U.S. Geological Survey)<\/em>
\nGrinnell Glacier, Glacier National Park, Montana<\/strong><\/center><\/p>\n

These photos accurately reflect what is happening at Grinnell Glacier, which has been reduced by nearly 90 percent over the past century, and elsewhere in Glacier National Park<\/a>, according to glaciologists. \u201cWhen Glacier National Park was formed back in 1912 there were 100 glaciers in the park,\u201d says Lonnie Thompson, a professor at the Ohio State University. \u201cThis year there are 26 glaciers, and those are expected to disappear within the next 30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Muir
\n
August 1941. (Photo: U.S. Geological Survey)<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

\"Muir
\n
August 2004. (Photo: US Geological Survey)<\/em>
\nMuir Glacier, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska<\/strong><\/center><\/p>\n

Some of the largest glacial losses are happening in Alaska<\/a>. Glaciologists say the above photos reflect real change that is taking place. \u201cAlaskan glaciers are really shrinking a lot,\u201d according to Marco Tedesco, an assistant professor at the City College of New York. \u201cThere is no debate about Muir Glacier. It\u2019s a dramatic change to liquid water.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"image
\n
Left: Summer 1917. Right: Summer 2005. (Photo: The Glacier Photograph Collection, National Snow and Ice Data Center\/World Data Center for Glaciology.)<\/em>
\nPedersen Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska<\/strong>
<\/center><\/p>\n

Pedersen Glacier is another example of the massive glacial retreat taking place in Alaska. Glaciologists like the above photos because they are taken from the same spot and the perspective is the same.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"image
\n
Left: July 1978. Right: July 2004. (Photo: Glacier Photograph Collection of the National Snow and Ice Data Center\/World Data Center for Glaciology.)<\/em>
\nQori Kalis Glacier, Peru<\/strong><\/center><\/p>\n

\nProfessor Lonnie Thompson has been mapping the retreat of Qori Kalis Glacier up the valley since 1978. In fact, he took the photo on the right. \u201cIn our first 15 years of observation it was retreating at a rate of 6 meters per year and in the last 15 years it\u2019s been averaging 60 meters per year,\u201d says Thompson. \u201cIt is the world\u2019s largest tropical ice cap and it has lost about 25 percent of its area since we started observing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Related links<\/strong><\/p>\n