Glaciers are disappearing quicker than expected, shrinking and thawing at an alarming pace because of Climate Change and this has and will have major impacts on the Earth and Human Systems. The video below shows how fast glaciers melt using time lapse photography:
The slider below shows NASA satellite pictures of the Okjökull glacier in Iceland. The left picture was took on September 14, 1986 and the right picture on August 1, 1986. From these it can be seen the gradual disappearance of this glacier in only three decades, now declared as dead by scientists.
What are glaciers?
Glaciers are the world's biggest reservoir of freshwater, primary source of consumption for human and animals. The release of freshwater through partial glacial melting in the mountains, bring the Earth to life by providing ecosystem services such as biodiversity and water resources for humans. Glaciers also prevent the majority of the sunlight to reach the ground, having a large impact on the average surface temperatures.
What's the link between glaciers and climate change?
When melted, glaciers alter the Ocean. Release of fresh and non-saline water on the ocean may cause changes in the global Thermo(temperature)Haline(salinity) circulation. Oceans are becoming less saline as freshwater is mixed with saline water, leading organisms sensitive to salinity variations to disappear, and then destroying substantial food resources for humans. Important surface water currents such as the Gulf Stream on the Atlantic may be also affected, increasing natural hazards such as hurricanes and cyclones.
Much of the articles and posts I have read mostly focused on the ocean rather than the mountain settings. But we need to know that glaciers influence sedimentation processes and ecosystems on land, so their disappearance must lead rivers and lakes to dry up or cause flooding in other cases. Also, humans must find another way to create electricity as the hydropower station may shut down.
Climate Change is a major concern and ice core glacier studies give direct climate information. Glaciers allow us to study paleoclimates in order to better understand how climate will change in the future. I found interesting to look at the British Antarctic Survey website as it goes into details to correlate ice cores to climate change over time.
Glaciers are undeniably linked to the sustainability of the Earth Science system and their disappearance may disturb this system, so that's why they matter! Glacier melting has already an impact on the Earth and Human, and we should expect this to become even more problematic in the near future.
This post was to give you a brief overview of the topics I will be exploring on this blog. Watch the space. Further posts coming soon.
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