Scientists investigating melting glaciers have discovered evidence of a previously unknown vicious circle, whereby
melted glacial water alters the chemistry on the surface of the ocean and drives further glacial melting, in turn accelerating the rise of seal levels.
The causes of the warming remain debated, but Liu and his team homed in on
the melting glacial water that poured into oceans as the ice receded, paradoxically slowing the ocean current in the North Atlantic that keeps Europe from freezing over.
Not exact matches
It cites numerous ways in which climate change is already threatening Europe, including
glacial retreat in Europe's mountain systems, flooding from the
melting ice - caps and increased
water demand in the Mediterranea.
Warming temperatures causes ocean
water to expand, which raises sea level and
glacial ice to
melt that creates
water that makes its way into ocean basins.
They found
glacial fjords hundreds of meters deeper than previously estimated; the full extent of the marine - based portions of the glaciers; deep troughs enabling Atlantic Ocean
water to reach the glacier fronts and
melt them from below; and few shallow sills that limit contact with this warmer
water.
Even with a generous assumption that all Himalayan
glacial melting since 1962 (roughly 13.4 cubic kilometers per year) was concentrated in the 150 - kilometer stretch of land closest to the study zone rather than spread across the entirety of the Himalayas, the scientists could explain, at most, 15 percent of the
water loss in northwestern India.
A World Bank study indicates that
glacial melt it is likely to raise generating costs at hydroelectric dams on rivers fed by
melt water.
As the
glacial mass decreases over time, the amount of
melted water that was produced can be calculated.
«Massive amounts of fresh
water,
glacial melt pouring into Gulf of Alaska.»
The combination of
glacial melt and precipitation produce an amount of
water that's larger than many of the world's great rivers, such as the Ganges, Nile, Volga, Niger, Columbia, Danube or Yellow River.
Since so much of the ice sheet is grounded underwater, rising sea levels may have the effect of lifting the sheets, allowing more - and increasingly warmer -
water underneath it, leading to further bottom
melting, more ice shelf disintegration, accelerated
glacial flow, and further sea level rise, and so on and on, another vicious cycle.
While the Alps could lose anything between 75 percent and 90 percent of their
glacial ice by the end of the century, Greenland's glaciers — which have the potential to raise global sea levels by up to 20 feet — are expected to
melt faster as their exposure to warm ocean
water increases.
Nature has tagged a recent paper on the importance of
glacial melt to
water supply in Asia with an expression of concern (EoC), after receiving a tip that the author had misused some data.
Ideal EZ
water can be found in
glacial melt but since it is practically inaccessible for almost everyone, natural deep spring
water is a good source.
The kelp is naturally mineral rich from
glacial melt water and geothermal vents supplying minerals from deep in the earth.
Here you find mountains akin to the dramatic landscapes of New Zealand, combined with the largest
glacial ice fields in South America, slowly
melting to feed into a vast network of turquoise rivers and lakes, with
water so pure you can drink it!
The unique turquoise colour of New Zealand's Lake Tekapo is the result of finely ground
glacial rock
melting into the snow fed
waters.
Humantay Lake sits at the base of the
glacial mountain of the same name, which
melts freezing cold
water into the crystalline lake below.
As warming oceans and
melting glacial ice raise
water levels, flooding from tropical storms has an increasingly devastating impact on highly populated coastal areas.
Which leads me to another question — the
melting glacial / Greenland / Antarctic ice
water is depleted in CO2 (check out the bubbles in your ice cubes)-- how much additional CO2 is being sequestered by this runoff into the oceans, and what happens to CO2 increase when we run out of glaciers?
If hamalaya's
glacial melt away, 1/6 of population will no
water to drink, most part of them are Chinese.
Turning to James Hansen's latest pieces (the technical piece, and the non technical piece in New Scientist) 40 % or more of Florida could be under
water by 2100, if Hansen is right about
glacial melt (which the IPCC explicitly excluded from its forecast).
Heat can change ocean dynamics and eventually will increase
glacial melting, which is mainly responding to subsurface
water rather than air warming.
Consistent with how I was reading things, pleasantly — barring some cautious hedging I'd made, based on the possibility that salinity could reflect mass changes, either when fresh
water was added to the ocean via
glacial melt or impoundment decreases (ocean mass increase) or via increased evaporation rates (ocean mass decrease).
For instance, there are still other problem GW is causing, such as glacier
melt (which even the dalits and possible huge starvation issues for India, China, and many other places dependent on the
glacial cycle for irrigation and drinking
water.
There are no substantial
glacial lakes forming today that could produce comparable amounts of
water (although a few hundred years of
melting of the Greenland ice sheet could change that situation).
La Paz's main
water supplies come from rainwater and
melt - off from tropical glaciers in the Cordillera Real range, which includes Chacaltaya and the Tuni - Condoriri
glacial system set in the mountains above the region's largest reservoir.
Melting of
glacial ice could play an important role in maintaining
water security during times of drought or similar climate extremes, the committee noted.
Might relate to opening a super cold bottle of pop, or the
glacial melt and refreeze that occurs almost instantly as shifts change the pressure being exerted on super cold ice that is almost
water.
The cool pool of
glacial melt water south of Greenland has aided in the generation of a dipole featuring cool air to the west, warm air to the east.
This cooling has been set off by an increase in fresh
water melt outflows from Greenland as
glacial melt there has accelerated concordant with human - forced warming.
As climate change begins to affect
water around the world, from acidification in the oceans to
glacial melting in the mountains, nationwide awareness and action programs like these will be welcome, and necessary.
The other concern is the upper Indus, where the snow and
glacial melt is really critical in
water resource management and flood control in Pakistan,» explained Koike, director, International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICH
water resource management and flood control in Pakistan,» explained Koike, director, International Centre for
Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICH
Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM).
If measuring ice pack, tracking
glacial melt, testing
water quality, or monitoring wildlife refuges appeals to you, you're in luck — these are all jobs that need to be filled as both governments and private companies aim to do a better job at recording the changes in the world around us.
It's an indication that ice
melt from a major glacier outflow there is cooling the surface
waters even as it pulls the surface heat downward and toward the
glacial base.
Warm ocean
water plays a significant role in
melting glacial ice from below, and a better mapping of Antarctica's and Greenland's landforms beneath the ice suggests that ocean
melting of the glacier fronts may play a more significant role than previously thought as the ice sheets retreat (under a global warming scenario).
In the Andes,
glacial melt water supports river flow and
water supply for tens of millions of people during the long dry season.
Many of these researchers pointed toward an expanding pool of warm bottom
water undermining sea facing glaciers as the culprit for this increasingly rapid
glacial melt.
If the
glacial melt water contribution to sea level is overestimated, then, the unaccounted - for contribution to sea level rise becomes much larger than initially thought.
As the Migration Policy Institute elaborates in an article examining the complexities of climate change and migration, a weather - related event — whether it's gradual
glacial melting or a sudden superstorm like Sandy — can increase pressures on land, food, and
water resources.
Because a large share of the runoff in the
glacial water systems comes from
melting, most of this runoff, up to 80 %, takes place in the summer.
The glaciers are an indispensable part of the national
water supply system; as much as 30 percent of the
water supply for the 2 million residents of La Paz and its sister city of El Alto comes from
glacial melt.
By Sreeja VN: Sizzling underwater
glacial ice, as it
melts into warmer sea
water, creates one of the loudest natural marine environments, and the air bubbles that pop during the process could help scientists measure the rate of glacier
melt and track fast - changing polar environments.
The combination of snow
melt,
glacial melt and rainfall
water sources provides for reliable runoff in these basins.
From historic droughts around the world and in places like California, Syria, Brazil and Iran to inexorably increasing
glacial melt; from an expanding blight of fish killing and
water poisoning algae blooms in lakes, rivers and oceans to a growing rash of global record rainfall events; and from record Arctic sea ice volume losses approaching 80 percent at the end of the summer of 2012 to a rapidly thawing permafrost zone explosively emitting an ever - increasing amount of methane and CO2, it's already a disastrous train - wreck.
Floods, droughts, wildfires, windstorms,
water contamination and illnesses plague the 1.3 billion people who live in the watersheds directly supplied by
glacial melt from the Hindu Kush - Himalaya (HKH) region.
This is probably the most important indicator of global warming as it comes from only two occurrences -
glacial melt and the expansion of ocean
water as it warms.
A warming of the Earth due to fossil fuel burning that has
melted glacial ice — flooding the oceans and causing its
waters to thermally expand.
It really all depends of course on the rocky types of mantle and their makeup at depth and the amount of
glacial melt being returned to the oceans, the amount of rainfall vs snowfall, the amount of
water no longer being tied up in the icy environment as well as that
melted from prior eras.
In addition,
glacial melt from mountain systems, Greenland and Antarctica is contributing ever - increasing volumes of
water to the global ocean, forcing on the
waters» rise at ever - increasing rates.