OP Spotlight : Glacier Data

"When we heal the earth, we heal ourselves."

David Orr, Environmental Educator

Global Warming : Glacier Data

Research on ice cores and lake sediments shows that the climate system has suffered other abrupt fluctuations in the distant past -- the climate appears to have "tipping points" that can send it into sharp lurches and rebounds.

Although scientists are still analyzing what happened during those earlier events, it's clear that an overstressed world with 6.3 billion people is a risky place to be carrying out uncontrolled experiments with the climate.

Glacier Data

Alaska 's Columbia Glacier has retreated 13km since 1982 and all 14 other glaciers in the area are retreating.

100 of the 150 glaciers in Montana's Glacier National Park have completely melted since 1850 and the rest are projected to be gone in 30 years.

14 of Spain's 27 glaciers have disappeared since 1980.

Quelccaya Ice Cap in the Andes of Puru increased its rate of retreat from 3m a year in the 1970s to 30m a year in the 1990s.

Upsala Glacier in Argentina has retreated 60m a year for the past 60 years. The rate is accelerating.

Glaciers in Europe's Alps have lost 50% of their volume since 1850.

Glaciers of the Caucauses have lost 50% of their volume in the last century.

The glaciers of Mt. Kilimanjaro have shrunk by over 70% since the late 1800s.

Mt. Kenya's largest glacier has lost 92% of its mass since the late 1800s.

Pindari Glacier in the Indian Himalayas is retreating at an average of 135m a year.

Tasman Glacier in New Zealand has thinned by about 200m on average since the 1970s.

The rates of retreat of three glaciers in Irian Jaya have increase from 30m a year in the 1920s to more than 45m a year.

About 2000 of the glaciers in the Eastern Himalayas have disappeared in the last century.

Duosuogang Peak glaciers in the Ulan Ula mountains of China have shrunk by 60m since the early 1970s.

Tien Shan glaciers of Central Asia have lost 22% of their volume in the last 40 years.

 

 

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