Decline Of Polar Glaciers

Have you ever wanted to spend months in temperatures that regularly are -30°? Many people cannot stand cold temperatures such as 32° even just for the couple minutes it takes while they are walking from their car to the store. In the story “Extreme Research Shows How Arctic Ice Is Dwindling” by Andy Isaacson he discusses how the arctic ice is dwindling, what will happen as a result of that and then finally about his trip where he was able to observe it all firsthand. The sea of ice is unlike how most people would imagine it to be as depicted on maps, instead it is not all connected but rather it is many different pieces all just floating near one another.

In Greenland and in the Arctic I was astonished to see that ancient glaciers are rapidly disappearing well ahead of scientific predictions. All that I have seen and learned on this journey has terrified me. For decades, scientists have struggled to get the same basic message across: global

Global warming persists as one of the world’s biggest issues today that is causing several problems that include the world’s severe climate and rising sea levels while possibly being the main cause as to why all of mankind could go extinct. This global crisis is known as the steady increase in the world’s average temperature of the earth’s atmosphere and oceans that are proven to be permanently changing the world’s climate (Live Science, 2014). This phenomenon is strongly evident as Earth’s temperature has also increased by 2 degrees Celsius since the last century. As a result of this, Canadian glaciers are melting at a higher rate of 2 to 3 feet than of what it was a decade before (Lerner, 2014). All astoundingly happening while the Artic Canadian permafrost has begun to melt (Davidson,2015). The state of this issue in Canada does not seem to be improving as validated through both the scientific evidence as well as the blatant and irrefutable observable evidence.

Farge has been tracking glaciers in Glacier National Park for 25 years. The degrading ice fields are measured and photographed often. A once famous Boulder Glacier has been left to slush, with the same still happening to many Glaciers. In the park 50 glaciers existed in the mid nineteen fifties, now only 25 are left. In 1977 Gore made a speech on Grinnell Glacier about climate change. With the once 15-20 foot drop they were worried about falling ice. Today, the drop isn’t even to your kneecap. Cloud Glacier Peak is predicted to die in 2035. The decline has led to a loss of homes for many species. Animals that live near glacier edges enjoyed the conditioned temperatures, are now losing that. With the loss of these Glacier sea levels are rising

Even though some of the links could not found, I still learned some cool and disturbing facts about glaciers. For example, ice bergs are nicknamed "rivers of ice" because they constantly move like rivers but at a much slower pace. Also if the ice bergs keep melting at the rate that they are, sea levels will rise and cause major damage and cause natural disasters like, flooding. Also the freshwater that's stored within the ice bergs would mix into the saltwater and led to a very limited availability of freshwater. Global warming is a major factor in the melting of the ice bergs and it's up to man to get this problem under

When President Taft created Glacier National Park in 1910, it had about 150 glaciers. Since then, the number has decreased to less than 30, and those remaining have shrunk by two-thirds. Dr. Daniel Fagre (2015) predicts that within the next 30 years most if not all of the park's glaciers will melt. Glacier National Park is not the only place effected. The snow on Kilimanjaro has melted more than 80 percent since 1912. Glaciers at the Garhwal Himalaya in India are melting so fast that researchers believe that most central and eastern Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035. Greenlands coastal glaciers have melted to the point of no return. “These peripheral glaciers and ice caps can be thought of as colonies of ice that are in rapid decline,

Glacier retreat will greatly affect polar and aquatic ecosystems and animals. Most arctic life revolves around the sea and presence of sea ice. Without the presence of ice, most ecosystems will be recreated. Polar bears are one species in great danger. Polar bears use sea ice as a birthing and hunting ground, and also use it to travel from one place to another. As glaciers start to disappear, the mother polar bear has less access to food; therefore, the chance of survival for her and her young is very slim. The polar bears chance of reproduction becomes less as the glaciers retreat. As the top of the food chain, their decline will cause negative effects for each level below them (Review Diagram G). The only way for polar bears to survive, is by

Accordingly, scientists have estimated that glaciers are losing at about 92 cubic kilometres of ice per year. In addition, the number equals the quantity of water used in Canada’s homes, factories, and farms for over 6 years. “Glaciers store snow like bank accounts store money; they hold snow in the winter and release water when it's most needed, during hot, dry summers and periods of drought. However, global warming is cashing in on a bank account that has been built over thousands of years but isn't being replenished” (Quote by David Suzuki). Furthermore, these are all horrific news for Canadian citizens.

Mendenhall Glacier is the most recent environmental victim of a warmer planet. First measured in 1911, the glacier has receded by more than 2900 meters (Braasch, G. 2011). The marvelous thing about glaciers is that they can regenerate their mass through snowfall, but they can lose their mass due to sublimation, water evaporating from the ice, and melting. Sadly, this isn’t the case anymore as the summers out heat whatever the glaciers had tried to regenerate during the winters. Since 1980, glaciers on average have melted 17 meters of water (“NOAA Climate.gov”. 2017). When glaciers melt, the resulting water adds to overall volume of the ocean. According to The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the global average of rising sea levels has been 3.4 millimeters a year since 1993 (“NOAA Climate.gov”. 2017). Before 1993, the average rise of sea level a year was only at

Climate change is causing glaciers to melt. In the video it says “when the ocean gets warmer it swells on top of that glaciers and ice sheets are melting”. This is important because it shows glaciers are melting because the ocean is too warm. This

For many years now, scientists have believed that our climate is changing. This climate change has caused water currents up north, near Antarctica to shift leading to warm waters taking the place of the usual cold arctic waters. Warm water melts the glaciers and causes the top of the glaciers to float off into the sea, allowing the warm water to melt even more glaciers. The extra glacier melting into our sea has caused the sea levels to raise and the

At the present rate of global warming most of the frozen portions of the Arctic may disappear by the end of this century.

I feel that global warming is taking place due to the human beings influence of the earth. When I say influence I mean the use of fossil fuels, aerosols and other hazardous devices that humans have derived for comforts. These chemicals that are being used have and continuously harmed the environment, not just with global warming, but the pollution of our natural resources Now we the human race is suffering the effects of global warming that is causing the melting of ice glaciers. Glaciers that have been in existences for hundreds and are now subject to the greenhouse effect. The chemicals used for our everyday lives and the pollution caused from such uses have not only directly impacted the earth’s environment, it has caused the melting of ice glaciers that are hundreds years old or more. In my opinion, glaciers that have been on this earth for that long do no simply melt due to the cycle of the earth’s natural weather patterns. There are multiple facts to support my opinion, but in this case I will only reveal the three that I think are the most substantial to support my point. First, “carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere are increasing” (Mulvaney 2013). This aspect is undisputable in the science community considering that the levels have increased dramatically even over the past decade. Second, the “Arctic Sea ice is in a Death Spiral” (Mulvaney 2013). The ice in the Arctic Sea, and many other parts of the world, is vanishing at an alarming rate.

Along with the deep seas, there are signs of rising sea levels. This is being contributed to the melting of Glaciers. According to National Geographic’s “The famed snows of Kilimanjaro have melted more than 80 percent since 1912. Glaciers in the Garhwal Himalaya in India are retreating so fast that researchers believe that most central and eastern Himalayan glaciers could virtually disappear

One of the effects of global warming is the polar ice caps’ melting. Scientists have been researching and examining the polar ice caps for a long time and they have come to the conclusion that the thin ice sheets are slowly wasting away. They have also found out that Greenland’s glaciers are getting smaller and smaller. Places around the globe that use to be covered in ice and snow are now showing more green terrain as the years go on and as the winter months grow warmer. The polar ice caps are melting more and more due to higher global temperatures. This is really bad because the ice caps “reflect and help regulate the Earth’s temperatures.”