Glaciers are known as 'rivers of ice', as they are not motionless, but are moving constantly like a slow river, from a few millimeters to few meters a day. Glaciers are large sheets of ice and snow that are found in places with extremely cold temperatures like in western United States, Alaska, and the mountains of Europe and Asia. Snow keeps on freezing and thawing and finally is converted into ice, which later gets compacted and firm. As more snow is then converted into ice, the weight and size of the glacier keeps increasing. There are two types of glaciers, continental and alpine glaciers. Continental glaciers are thick ice sheets that flow in the sea, whereas alpine glaciers are glaciers that form in the mountains. When temperature increases, …show more content…
This process is happening nearly everywhere in the world. Global warming has increased average temperatures worldwide, causing more glacier ice to melt, compared to previous years. Greenhouse gases are a natural part of the atmosphere; the main sources of these gases are carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Increased gas percentage in the past century may be due to human activity such as burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas, and deforestation. These factors release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which acts as a shield trapping solar energy and raising temperatures at the earth's surface. Plants and trees absorb carbon dioxide for the process of photosynthesis. As a result, deforestation reduces the absorption of carbon dioxide, which adds to the …show more content…
However, glaciers are also decreasing in size each year for the reason that the lack of snowfall needed to replace the amount of melting ice. Increased gas percentage in the past century may be caused by human activity such as burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, natural gas, and wood. These fossil fuels release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which acts as a shield trapping solar energy and raising temperatures at the earth's surface. We can start by reducing the amount of fossil fuels we burn and start cycling instead of using the car for short distances. Switching off lights and air-conditioning systems when not required and starting to plant as many trees as we can where possible are some of the numerous ways we can reduce this problem. The melting of glaciers can lead to many problems such as, droughts, floods, animal extinction, and the destruction of many homes. If we start trying to solve these problems mentioned previously, then we can avoid the most dangerous impacts