Glaciers Worldwide are Melting Faster Than Ever Before

Glaciers are melting fast…is a deluge imminent? Learn more…

Friday, 7th May 2021

Glaciers across the globe are melting faster than ever.

Scientists have drawn their inferences after looking at 20 years of satellite data of the 220,000 mountain glaciers across the world.

This study differs from past studies as the satellite images help examine all of the world’s glaciers and not just a few of them, mostly connected to ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica.

They have discovered that ever since the year 2015, glaciers have been losing nearly 298 billion metric tons of ice and snow each year. This is 31 percent more than what used to melt 15 years ago and is enough to get a country like Switzerland under 7.2 meters of water each year.

According to these scientists, it is climate change that is the primary cause of this ice melt. Continually rising temperatures are dwindling glaciers of the world as scientists have long been a warning.

Also Read: Since The Year 2010, Amazon Basin of Brazil Released More CO2 Gas Than It Has Absorbed, Says A Study.

The report has been led by Romain Hugonnet who studies glaciers at ETH Zurich and the University of Toulouse in France, who said the thinning rate of glaciers is twice as high as it was 20 years ago, and “that’s enormous.”

The United States and Canada account for fifty percent of the world’s glacier melt. Hugonnet said, with Alaska’s Columbia Glacier losing almost 35 meters every year, the state’s melt rates are “among the highest on the planet.”

Besides these countries, others like Tibet, which once had glaciers that were solid, are also experiencing melting glaciers.

Hugonnet states that such acceleration in the rate of melting “mirrors” a rise in temperature owing to the burning of coal, oil, and gas across the world

There are a few small glaciers that are now totally lost to the world. A couple of years ago, Iceland had held a funeral for a small glacier attended by scientists, activists, and government officials.

This phenomenon can lead to drastic consequences as shrinking glaciers can bring about drinking water scarcity for millions of people who depend on glacier melt. Moreover, rapid melting can also lead to deadly floods in countries like India, as per Hugonnet.

However, the point that most concerns scientists are the rising sea level, 21 percent of which can be attributed to glaciers.

Some researchers however believe if the earth’s temperatures are controlled and emissions reduced, glaciers can be re-grown.

The News Talkie Bureau

Source:

BBC News