The South American Cryosphere

The environment around us carries the scar caused by global warming. Precipitation has increased across the globe, which has consequently caused more frequent floods, an increase in sea levels, and a higher frequency of strong storms. Lakes are drying up, islands are virtually dropping into the ocean, and the polar ice caps are disappearing. The planet is truly in peril. This paper will focus on three regions of the Earth in particular: Antarctica, the Amazon Rainforest, and the Great Barrier Reef. More specifically, it will examine the extent of the impact that global warming has had on each region..

Imagine a world with no trees, no healthy grass, no glaciers, or no living creatures at all. The cause of this tragedy could be the increase in heat in the Earth’s atmosphere due to global warming. If global warming continues to increase, the world will be left empty. The Earth has been around for a long time, and many feet have walked on it, but no one has walked on this Earth without trees, grass, or creatures. With global warming, the Earth’s meteorology gets too warm, and all of the glaciers will start to melt. Global warming occurs when an increase in the carbon dioxide levels causes the temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere to rise. The Earth’s meteorology is often a subject explored in literature. For example, “Chronicles of Ice” talks

Remote sensing has become a very valuable tool for documenting the response of glacier to changing climate (Bamber and Kwok, 2003; Kuhn, 2007; Pellikka, 2007; Solomon et al, 2007) because the rugged terrain, inaccessibility and legendary poor weather of glacier areas has resulted in relatively few field- based studies. Indeed, in order to use glaciers and their changes as indicators of climate change, or as an early warning signal for sea level rise, remote sensing is the only tool to provide glacier change information from all the continents and from a large number of glaciers and ice sheets. On the other hands, because space borne and airborne remote sensing data provide superior cost- effective and area effective data and methods for monitoring the glaciers and their changes, part of this monitoring can be carried out by it.

Ice ages are well documented in Earth’s history, and they are proven to be relatively frequent. But what if that ice age persisted over not just regions near the poles, but around the equator as well? The term “snowball Earth” refers to a condition where Earth is completely covered by ice. Evidence indicates that snowball Earth may have been around in the Neoproterozoic. In fact, evidence points to the conclusion that these conditions happened three separate times in the Neoproterozoic. A snowball Earth condition is hard to prove, but this theory may explain several different phenomena. However, it is not accepted by all, there is evidence against a snowball Earth as well. Some believe that a snowball Earth would not have been possible in past climate conditions while there are views that defend the idea of more of a ‘slushball’ Earth rather than a planet entirely frozen on the surface.

Collaborating on an international level remains important for conducting ice patch research due to the rapid melting of alpine ice and decay of valuable artifacts. The work conducted for this thesis included cooperation from Parks Canada. Ice patch research was conducted not only on the U.S. side of the international border, but also on the Canadian side of Chilkoot Pass. Parks Canada allowed me and KLGO archaeologists to use the Canadian warden cabin at the summit of Chilkoot Pass as a basecamp for the ice patch study (Figure 1.4). Working between two sovereign countries emphasizes the matter of climate change as a global issue and the importance in maintaining international relations. Maintaining international relations benefits the scientific community on a global scale and provides significant research opportunities.

The Siberian tundra is basically melting away overtime, even though it has been frozen for tens of thousands of years. At such a fast rate it is speculated that it is influencing global warming. The landscape is changing fast. In the last three to four years, the underlying

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

The first argument examined on the man-made global warning side is that increasing greenhouse gases caused by human activities is causing directly observed climate changes. The first resulting climate change discussed is warming global surface temperature. There has been an increase in global surface temperature of 0.74 degrees C since the late 19th century. In the last 50 years alone the temperature has increased by 0.13 degrees C per decade. North America and Eurasia have seen the largest increase in warmth. However, some areas of the earth have actually cooled some this past century (Easterling & Karl, 2011, para6). After the mid 20th century 70% of the global land mass saw reduced diurnal temperatures. From 1979 to 2005 the maximum and minimum temperatures have shown no change; both indicate warming (Easterling & Karl, 2011, para10). Furthermore, borehole temperatures, snow cover, and glacier recession data all seem to agree with recent warming (Easterling & Karl, 2011, para11).

Central America is one of the regions most exposed to climate change. A narrow isthmus between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea has especially been affected by droughts, hurricanes and the El Niño-southern oscillation (ENSO) phenomena within the last century. Soil is the largest terrestrial organic carbon pool and can act as a source or sink for atmospheric CO2. Although reliable soil carbon (SOC) stock measurements of major ecosystems are essential for predicting the influence of advancing climate change, comprehensive data on SOC stocks is still scarce for most ecosystems in subtropical areas. Much of the regional economy is based on agriculture, especially in diverse farming systems of smallholders over the last century (Imbach

The Middle and South America physical environment contribute to how the people interact with the environment. There are four temperature altitude zones, natural physical environment, that affect the interactions of humans. One of the four is the tierra caliente zone, known for plantation agriculture with tropical crops such as bananas, sugar cane, cocoa, and pineapple (Pulsipher &Pulsipher 2012, 104). The tierra templada zone, crops such as corn, bean, squash, green vegetables, wheat, and coffee grow well here (Pulsipher & Pulsipher 2012, 104). In the tierra fria zone, crops such as wheat, fruit trees, potatoes, cool weathered vegetables thrive, and herding llamas, sheep, and guinea pigs for food and fiber is known here(Pulsipher & Pulsipher

I completely agree with your association between Gethen's cold climate and their sluggish advancement. They've grown quite passive toward the perpetual ice and snow. Despite having the technological advancement and machinery to clear roads and houses from being buried with snow, they literally just made an extra door that hangs 10 feet above the ground to used during winter. Now if that's not the laziest way around a problem, I don't know what is. Currently, there is no incentive to industrialized, and there's little competition between nations because everyone seems to get by with the way things

The Patagonian Ice Field stretches from the Argentine lakes to the Chilean fjords. The northern part of the ice cap is entirely in Chile while the southern ice cap is shared by both Argentina and Chile. It is made up of around forty seven glaciers that are formed at high altitudes. The glacier covers around 16,800 km² (6,800 mi²) (Willis). It stretches across the southern Andes, measuring nearly 220 miles (355 km) long and 30 miles (48 km) wide. The remaining ice is from the previous Ice Age,(18,000-17,500 years ago) (Jacob). During this time all of southern Chile and Argentina was covered in a thick sheet of ice. The ice field is considered by some to be the eighth wonder of the world. At one point the glacier was advancing at around two meters per day, but

Although many glaciers are retreating in the Andes, some glaciers have shown a positive mass budget. Schaefer et al. (2014) showed a progressive surface mass balance from 1975 to 2011 in the South Patagonian Icefield. Masiokas et al. (2009) also noted glacier growths in certain portions of SPI during the first half of the past millennium. Sakakibara and Sugiyama (2014), in their analysis of 26 calving glaciers from 1984 to 2011, noticed small advancements in two termini of the Pío XI glacier. Espizua and Pitte (2009) noticed some periods of minor advances in the Central Andes. They concluded that the positive mass balance during the period was the outcome of the warm El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events.

Glaciers are one of the most fundamental phenomenon on the planet, and much of their purpose and impact on earth has been well documented and published. Ice sheets, Ice Caps and Glaciers trap nearly 90% of the world's fresh water, and are replenished by snowfall each year. Their existence on this planet dates back 650,000,000 years and yet they are always moving, always shifting and always melting. Before, human existence and even during the brief era of humans, ice dominated all of the earth's landmass and have regulated, created and altered many of the landscapes around the world.

Arnold et al., 1998 investigates the behaviour of the Haut Glacier d’Arolla in Valais, Switzerland to predict and explain how glacier drainage systems function. Barron and Washington, 1984, Cox et al., 2000 and Gildor and Tziperman, 2001 all used a form of climate models. Barron and Washington, 1984 aimed to explore past climatic change, by investigating the surface temperature sensitivity by comparing present and cretaceous simulations. Similarly, Gildor and Tziperman, 2001 used a conceptual box model to investigate past climate change, based on oscillations of climate systems. Cox et al., 2000 also used a climate model, however focussed on future climatic change, rather than past. The final paper, by Burt and Butcher, 1986 uses a simple rainfall run-off model to explore the hillslope run-off system.