The discovery is significant because it is thought that such lakes may have accelerated the retreat of
glaciers in the past, and could do so again.
But despite making an error over Himalayan
glacier melt in its landmark 2007 report, the panel's basic conclusions remain sound, he said.
Similar problems are expected in those countries reliant on
Himalayan glaciers for their water supplies.
But Chinese scientists warn that global warming is main cause of
glacier retreat and the tourism ban will do little to reverse the trend.
A growing number of studies based on satellite data and stream chemistry analyses have found that far less surface water comes
from glacier melt than previously assumed.
Ice shelves serve as a crucial barrier to prevent land - based ice sheets as well
as glaciers from melting into oceans and increasing sea levels.
It has always seemed to me that the retreat of
mountain glaciers around the world is one of the most compelling pieces of evidence for global warming.
However, some of the discoveries dug up were as alien as the rocks transported to the site
by glaciers millions of years ago.
The shelves do, however, act as braking systems
for glaciers moving on the continent.
They lose mass when ice and snow at the surface melts and runs off and when
glaciers at the coast discharge ice into the ocean.
It also has an amazing backdrop of the mountains
with glacier in between.
Upon reaching the sea, a number of these large
outlet glaciers extend into the water with a floating «ice tongue».
And the lakes are growing in mass as
glacier ice melts become more prevalent.
As the authors put it in their paper, reductions in emissions «will only have very limited influence on on
glacier mass change in the twenty - first century».
Understanding the ocean's influence could help reveal how
glaciers around the world are feeding the rising seas.
For the purpose of the study, the monitoring service compiled data on changes in
glaciers over the last 120 years.
By the way, the problem was that he was following the assumption that the continental
glacier moved in all places in the same way as it does on a large scale.
Generally speaking, lower
glaciers which extend below the elevation where above - freezing air temperatures occur, are more sensitive to temperature.
Maybe someone knows a study that has specifically addressed that for
tropical glaciers?
The mission is providing the first comprehensive look at
how glaciers and oceans change year to year.
The impacts of global warming have begun to appear across the globe, from
shrinking glaciers to rising seas.
The team's early results show that the ocean retains areas of open water in the tropics, even when
glaciers cover much of the land mass.
The new study reinforces previous research showing the power of climate change over
small glaciers worldwide.
There was no significant change in the area of eight
other glacier lakes which were situated at a higher altitude and not created by melting.
When an ice shelf disappears, the land -
based glacier ice it held back can flow faster into the ocean, directly contributing to sea level rise.
Therefore, the rate of
glacier loss accelerates in all scenarios for the first half of this century (shown by descending lines in middle chart).
Finally, direct, ground - based observations have been in place at
many glaciers since the 1990s.
By trapping heat, rising concentrations of atmospheric pollution are
causing glaciers and ice sheets to melt into seas, lifting high tides ever higher.
Most regions of BC will probably be warmer, sea levels will rise, and fresh drinking water may be harder to find as
glaciers disappear.
This retreat represents a loss in
glacier area that will be mapped in 2001 and 2002.
The tree line was hundreds of meters higher 3000 years ago, we still find remnants of trees
under glaciers.
If glacier data is a little incorrect but helps that effort, then the data is true in all but a very narrow and clinical scientific sense.