...The melting of ice glaciers is considered to be a normal act of nature. The real problem occurs when “the snow replenishing it is less than the melted water.” (Mathias, 2011). This problem is occurring with the majority of glaciers around the world, with the size of the glaciers reducing causing an increase in the sea water levels. The primary culprit for the sudden melting of ice glaciers is the rapid industrialization and the burning of fossil fuels taking place. There are many negative effects on the earth because of the rapid melting of ice glaciers but the most prominent ones are global warming, shortage in fresh water and the rise in sea level. The human population has taken action to try and reduce the severity of these effects, and have been successful in doing so, but they are still very present. Global warming is a concern that is well-known by the majority of our population and a mutual effort of several countries to reduce the overall release of pollution and greenhouse gases was carried out through a contract called the “Kyoto Protocol.” This is one good example of the awareness of the issues that we as a planet are facing, and how we have tackled these severe issues. Glacier melting is on the rise and the effects, as a result, are becoming more serious which is why it is worth investigating ways in which these situations can be mitigated. The relationship between the melting ice glaciers and global warming is best described as a feedback loop, which defined by...
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...Global W arming and Glaciers The Traprock, Vol. 3, M ay 2004, pp 16 - 19 16 Global Warming and its Effects on Glaciers Andrew Grosvenor, Will Roble and Marcus de Castro The addition of more greenhouse gasses to earth’s atmosphere has been blocking an increased amount of the heat radiated out from the earth’s surface. This in turn has lead to higher average global temperatures, or global warming. One of the main problems posed by this development is the melting of the earth’s glaciers. This is problematic because more liquid water will cause the planet’s sea levels to rise, possibly by as much as 66m if they are completely melted. Other environmental concerns related to melting include changes to mountain habitats and an accelerated water cycle. Although some modeling has shown no serious deterioration of the earth’s glaciers it is becoming increasingly evident that continued global warming would have serious repercussions on the planet’s ice. With the increasing acceptance of global warming as an important phenomenon occurring in our environment today, its effects on the natural cycles of the planet are becoming the center of research. One of the most interesting of these topics is the effect of global warming on the earth’s glaciers. It has been observed that increasing temperatures have and will continue to lead to glacial melting, and that the additional water will lead to a rise in the earth’s sea levels. The other potential effects of glacial melting are still the...
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...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,...
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...“Examine how glaciers operate as system”(25) Glaciers are moving bodies of ice which can form at high latitude and/or altitudes across the world. Glaciers can be described as systems as they have inputs, output, stores and flows within them; this is what makes up a system. Topics to be discussed are glacial inputs, outputs, it’s mass balance at a cold and warm base glacier as well as how a system may be altered due to the climate change in the atmosphere of the glacier. Glaciers can vary in movement distance however within a surge, a glacier can move up to 300m per day. Within a glacial system, there are inputs, outputs, stores and flows. The inputs within a glacier could be: any form of precipitation, gravity, insolation, melt water from other glaciers as well is rock debris. An example of a store within a glacier may be air pockets within the structure of the glacier and a flow/transfer of a glacier would be: streams or lakes and melt water transferring. Lastly, an output of a glacier may be: lakes, melt water in liquid form and sediment. The mass balance of a glacier is the relationship between the inputs and outputs within the seasons of a year. Within the winter, there’s a high accumulation curve, where inputs are high through precipitation as well as a low ablation curve which is the outputs of melting; this causes the glacier to be at its most gaining period. However, in summer this is where the ablation is at its highest as well as the accumulation is at it least...
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...Is Antarctica Melting? 01.12.10 The continent of Antarctica has been losing more than 100 cubic kilometers (24 cubic miles) of ice per year since 2002. Larger Image There has been lots of talk lately about Antarctica and whether or not the continent's giant ice sheet is melting. One new paper 1, which states there’s less surface melting recently than in past years, has been cited as "proof" that there’s no global warming. Other evidence that the amount of sea ice around Antarctica seems to be increasing slightly 2-4 is being used in the same way. But both of these data points are misleading. Gravity data collected from space using NASA's Grace satellite show that Antarctica has been losing more than a hundred cubic kilometers (24 cubic miles) of ice each year since 2002. The latest data reveal that Antarctica is losing ice at an accelerating rate, too. How is it possible for surface melting to decrease, but for the continent to lose mass anyway? The answer boils down to the fact that ice can flow without melting. The Antarctic ice sheet. East Antarctica is much higher in elevation than West Antarctica. Larger Image Two-thirds of Antarctica is a high, cold desert. Known as East Antarctica, this section has an average altitude of about 2 kilometer (1.2 miles), higher than the American Colorado Plateau. There is a continent about the size of Australia underneath all this ice; the ice sheet sitting on top averages at a little over 2 kilometer (1.2 miles) thick. If all of...
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...Glaciers by Crystal Sweet Rasmussen College Author’s Note This paper is being submitted for Introduction to Geology course at Rasmussen College to Dr. Nikki Strong on June 16, 2013, by Crystal Sweet. When you think fresh water what comes to mind? Perhaps a bottle of water or a stream that is so clear you can see the bottom, did you ever think of glaciers? Glaciers actually store up to 75% of our fresh water (NSIDC, 2013). This natural occurrence has happened many years and at one time it actually had covered up to 32% (NSIDC, 2013) of the earth which occurred when there was an ice age. Figure [ 1 ]: Layers of Glaciers (http://whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/2012/03/niveolian-art.html) Figure [ 1 ]: Layers of Glaciers (http://whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/2012/03/niveolian-art.html) Glaciers are all over the world the only place that doesn’t have glaciers is Australia. You may not believe it but even Africa has glaciers. Glaciers start out as snowflakes but need to have the right environment to grow into a glacier. Most are found in areas that have large amounts of snow fall in the winters and the warm seasons stay cool so the snow doesn’t melt completely. So the snow from the winter starts to melt but does not completely melt, then it forms into ice and new snowfalls on the layer of ice that winter; this circle keeps happening and the glaciers grow and eventually start to move because of its own weight. They can be as small as a football field or as enormous as snow...
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...Climate Change and the IPCC o What is the IPCC? - Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, created in 1988, first assessment report in 1990 launched global awareness of climate change issue. How the IPCC works - Thousands of scientists contribute to writing and reviewing reports. Does not carry out new research or monitor climate related data. There are 3 working groups and a special tasks force. Terminology – 99%-100% (Virtually Certain) 90%-100% (Very Likely) 66%-100 (Likely) 33%-60% (About as likely as not) 0%-33% (Unlikely) 0%-10% (Very Unlikely) 0%-1% (Exceptionally Unlikely) o Causes of climate change Relative forcing components – Long-live greenhouse gases (Global), Ozone (Continental to Global), Stratospheric water vapor from methane (Global), Surface albedo, Aerosol (Direct Affect, Cloud Albedo Affect, Surface to Continental), Linear Contrails (Continental) , Solar irradiance (Global) Earth’s energy budget & human use Quadrillion BTU 100% Incoming Solar Energy Wood 64% - Radiated to space Coal 51% - Absorbed by land and oceans Oil &Gas 23% - Carried to clouds Hydropower &Nuclear (1900-) 20% - Reflected by clouds 16% - Absorbed by atmosphere 15% - Radiation absorbed by atmosphere 7% - Conduction and rising air 6% - Reflected by atmosphere 6% - Radiated directly into space 4% - Reflected from Earth’s surface 3% - Absorbed by clouds Greenhouse gases (types and impact)...
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...Melting Ice and Rising Seas Sea ice is the frozen seawater which covers 20 million square kilometers of the polar, the ice is only a few meter thick. Glaciers and land ice can be up to more kilometers thick. Because of the climate change caused by CO2 emission and other natural events like volcanos, the sea ice, glaciers and land ice started to melt. Since 1980 the climate changed by 0,5Cº and continuously rises. If all the global land ice would completely melt the ocean level would raise about sixty meters. The sensitivity in the arctic is very high and responds quickly to changes, because of the climate change the acritical sea ice started to melt and where before was ice is now open sea. Ice is reflecting most of the sun heat and by this avoiding that the ice sheet is heading up too much. Instead water doesn’t have this ability the open water around the sea ice is heading up the area, which leads again to a more faster melting of the arctic sea ice. In 40 years one third of the arctic sea ice amount dropped down, which is half the size of Australia. The reduction of the sea ice leads also to a change in the golf string, which is affecting the global circulation and weather. Because of the open sea area now in the arctic new ship routs are now available, which have also an impact of the environmental in the arctic. Over the next or three decades, there will be no artic summer sea ice anymore. Not only that the reduction of the arctic sea ice have an impact on the golf stream...
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...years. It is sub-divided into the Pleistocene epoch (the most recent ice age) and Holocene epoch (the post-glacial period of last 10000 years). * Glacial: a period of time when masses of ice develop and advance into lower altitudes due to a sustained decline in temperature. Extensive continental ice sheets form during such periods. * Interglacial: a period of time, such as the present day, when ice still covers part of the Earth’s surface but has retreated to the polar regions. * Accumulation: the net gain in an ice mass. The sources of accumulation are direct snowfall and avalanching from higher slopes. * Sublimation: a transition from the solid state to gas with no intermediate liquid stage. * Ablation: the process of wastage of snow or ice, especially by melting. * Steady State: when the amounts of accumulation and ablation are equal over the course of a year. As a result, the snout of the glacier will remain stationary. * Surge: a short-lived phase of accelerated glacier flow. * Pressure Melting Point (PMP): the temperature at which ice under pressure will melt. * Extensional Flow: also known as extending flow, this is the extension and related thinning of glacier ice in those zones where velocity increases. * Compressional Flow: also known as compressing flow, this is the type of glacier flow whereby a reduction in velocity leads to an increase in thickness of a glacier. * Weathering: the breakdown of rocks in situ (in their original...
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...First of all with Climate Change it changes the temperature of even one of the coldest part’s of the world, which causes Arctic Sea Ice to melt. Since 1979 the Arctic sea ice has declined .Each decade the Arctic sea ice is declining by 13.3 percent per decade (NASA, 2017). Study shows that in the next 100 years or sooner the world’s glaciers will have disappeared as will the polar ice cap, and the huge Antarctic ice shelf. Scientist believe that snow will become a rare phenomenon at what are now the world’s most popular ski resorts. (National Climate Assessment, 2012). This shows how much Climate Change can affect even the coldest parts of the world to where it would cost the ice to melt. With the Climate Change melting the glaciers,...
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...Vojta Rousar Mrs. Rothstein Comp/Lit 11 (2) 13 October 2009 Global Warming The Earth's climate is constantly changing over time. Many climatologists believe that the temperature of the Earth slowly fluctuates over time. In fact, several scientists estimate that between 15,000 and 30,000 years ago the Earth was covered by large sheets of ice. This period of time was known as the Ice Age. As the temperature of the Earth began to rise 7,000 years ago, the Ice Age came to an end. The first theory of global warming came in 1824 when French mathematician Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier discovered that the Earth's temperature was slowly increasing. Fourier argued that the earth's atmosphere traps solar radiation and reflects it back toward the earth. In the late 19th century Fourier's theory was labeled the "greenhouse effect" when Nobel Laureate Svante Arrhenius coined the term to explain how carbon dioxide traps heat in the Earth's atmosphere. Today, scientists disagree on the effects of global warming while some deny the phenomena all together. Despite these arguments many historians point out the direct relationship between man and the environment, often referencing the American Dust Bowl of the 1930s, where large scale soil erosion reduced parts of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas to arid deserts. Currently, many governments and corporations are working to reduce fuel emissions and produce "Earth friendly" products such as hybrid cars. Yet, many scientists...
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...Glaciers and Glaciation Jordan Leslie KAMSC Geology Term Paper Mr. Sinclair January 10, 2013 A glacier is basically a thick ice mass that originates on land from the accumulation, compaction, and recrystallization of snow. Since glaciers are agents of erosion, they must also flow. Similar to running water, groundwater, waves, and wind, glaciers are dynamic forces that are capable of accumulating, transporting, and depositing sediment. Glaciers are found in many parts of the world today. However, they are mostly found in remote areas. Thousands of relatively small glaciers exist in lofty mountain regions, where they usually follow valleys originally occupied by water. Unlike the rivers that previously flowed in these valleys, glaciers move very slowly, approximately a few centimeters per day. Based on their location, glaciers are narrowed down to two categories: valley glaciers and alpine glaciers. Each is a stream of ice, bounded by precipitous rock walls, that flows down valley from an accumulation center near its head. Like rivers, valley glaciers can be long or short, wide or narrow, single or with branching tributaries. Generally, the widths of alpine glaciers are small compared to the length. Some glaciers extend for just a fraction of a kilometer, whereas others go on for tens of kilometers. The picture above shows the Lateral moraine on a glacier joining the Gorner Glacier, in Switzerland. The Gorner Glacier runs along the bottom of the...
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...Deserts, Glaciers, and Climate: Landscapes and Changes Deserts, Glaciers, and Climate: Landscapes and Changes It is no great mystery that the Earth is always changing. Talk of global warming is inescapable, making it a moral imperative to become educated about the Earth’s climate cycles and watch for changes and signs in Earth’s diverse landscapes. The following is a brief sketch of desert and glacial landscapes, as well as a look at historical and future climate changes. Deserts VS Glacial Landscapes Desert and glacial landscapes are very much on opposite sides of the landscape spectrum; however in terms of adjective depiction they are related: “abstract, beautiful, immense, remote ... and vulnerable” (Murck, Skinner, & Mackenzie, 2008, p. 376). Deserts The desert landscapes are primarily fashioned by wind and sand, however they are truly defined by the region’s annual rainfall. The landscapes in the desert are full of sand, alluvial fans, playas, oases, arroyos as well as deposits of salt. Eolian, better known as wind erosion, is the type of erosion seen in the desert. Desert is constantly altered and changing based on the direction of the wind. A highly noticeable example of a changing geological feature in a desert landscape would be the dunes. Dunes are hills or ridges of sand that are produced when the wind blows. These mounds of sand are irregular, yet they come in five common types, barchan, transverse, star...
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...Ice melting • There are about 5, 614, 000 miles³ (24, 062, 913.678268 km³) of ice on earth. • Some scientists say it would take more than 5,000 years to melt it all. • Sea level would rise by 216 feet. • East Antarctica—the east Antarctica ice sheet is so large that it contains 4/5 of all the ice on earth. Source: www.ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/09/rising-seas/if-ice-melted-map) • The current sea-level rise is about 3mm/year Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/current_sea_level_rise Some examples of glaciers on Earth • Arctic Sea Ice › Location: Arctic Ocean › has shrunk by 6 percent since 1978 with a 14 percent loss of thicker, year-round ice. Has thinned by 40 percent in less than 30 years. • Greenland Ice Sheets › Location: Greenland › has thinned by more than a meter a year on its southern and eastern edges since 1993. • Columbia Glacier › Location: Alaska, U.S. › has retreated nearly 13 kilometres since 1982. In 1999, retreat rate increased from 25 metres per day to 35 metres. Physics SPECIFIC LATENT HEAT (L) - the specific latent heat of a material is the amount if heat required to chance the state if 1 kilogram of the material without changing its temperature. (Unit: J/kg) • Specific latent heat (L)- 334 kJ/kg • Heat required to change the state of ice to liquid (Q)- 8.037042 x 1024 J Sources: Lf – www.engineeringtoolbox.com/latent-heat-melting-solids-d_96.html Q – I calculated it. In this presentation we will be talking...
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...North East Greenland Glacier: It’s Going Down Recent studies conducted by the University of California, have discovered that the North East Greenland Glacier is going down. The Glacier is going down rapidly. As studies have been conducted, it has been concluded that the Glacier in northeast Greenland contains enough water to make sea levels globally raise way beyond 18 inches. The Glacier in question is currently melting down into the North Atlantic Ocean. The Glacier has been losing a whopping mass of 5 billion tons every year. The glacier has been named Zachariae Isstrom. Jeremine Mouginot, a researcher currently studying the transformation of Zacharie Isstrom, claims that the glacier is breaking apart in large chunks. These icebergs will...
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