Glaciers - Magnificent, Massive, Melting, A Mounting Crisis
Melting glaciers, of all things, could be at the bottom of most people’s lists of things to worry about. Or perhaps it didn’t even get included. Not that they care less about this environmental problem, but it could be more of... lack of information, perhaps?
Paolo ReynaSep 02, 2022131 Shares2339 Views
It’s easy to search the Web for glaciersboth in their pristine solid beauty and while they’re melting.
So, instead, let’s do this Grade 1-level activity.
Place a large chunk of ice on a glass. Then slowly fill it with water. Stop when the water reaches a few centimeters from the brim.
Then place that glass of water on top of some pebbles.
Observe the following things:
how the ice (the glacier) slowly melts
how the water in the glass (the sea) will eventually reach the brim
how the water will spill out (rising sea levels) onto the pebbles (houses in the coastal areas)
Glaciers have been melting for a long time now. Why and what should we expect?
As climate changes, study finds world's glaciers melting faster | Global Warming | English News
Two classic spy filmsand a fantasy drama series with fire-breathing dragons. Then throw in a billionaire caped crusader and a voluptuous kick-ass heiress.
What do you get? Glaciers. Sort of.
Scenes from the James Bond movies A View to a Kill (1985)and Die Another Day (2002)were shot in Jökulsárlón. In the latter, a Jaguar and an Aston Martin were driven in this frozen lagoon in Iceland.
Angelina Joliein Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) also walked in that famous glacier.
Some episodes in HBO’s Game of Thronesseries (2011-2019) showed viewers the majestic sights of the Svínafellsjökull Glacier in Iceland. The same glacier is where parts of Batman Begins (2005)were filmed.
Even Hollywood can’t resist the charm of glaciers.
Here are other famous glaciers:
Aletsch Glacier (Switzerland)
Mýrdalsjökull (Iceland)
Perito Moreno Glacier (Argentina)
Taku Glacier (Alaska)
Vatnajokull Glacier National Park (Iceland; a UNESCO World Heritage Site)
The Vatnajokull Glacier National Park in Iceland, with some shades of black in them
If some bacteria, which can’t be seen by the naked eye, hold significance, what more of these frozen gigantic structures?
For Jean-Baptiste Bosson, a scientific officer at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Switzerland:
“„
Glaciers are keystones of Life on Earth.
He mentioned the fact that glaciers are “giant freshwater reservoirs.” Glaciers, ice caps, and permafrost are made of freshwater.
Water is precious. One of the basic human needs. People use freshwater:
in food production
in the manufacturing of goods
for electricity production
for sanitation purposes
for personal hygiene
What can be considered freshwater? Per the U.S. Geological Survey:
“„
Freshwater is water containing less than 1,000 milligrams per liter of dissolved solids, most often salt.
Based on the paper Freshwater Lakes (2008)published by the Encyclopedia of Ecology (2008):
2.53 percent of global water is freshwater (found in rivers and lakes)
0.76 percent is fresh groundwater
1.76 percent of global water is found in glaciers, ice caps, and permafrost
Bosson also said that glaciers remind humans about climate change. That’s also what the Colorado-based program Extreme Ice Survey (founded 2007) said about them:
“„
Glaciers are sentinels of climate change.
As they melt at an alarming rate, it means the planet is getting warmer and warmer.
Make the glaciers great again | Jean-Baptiste Bosson | TEDxZurich
Glaciers are melting because of certain human activities. Here is a quick discussion of fossil fuels to help explain why.
Found in the Earth’s crust are decomposing organisms called plankton as well as plants and animals.
As they decompose, they turn into fossil fuels.
For example, plankton become natural gas and oil and plants become coal.
Humans extract fossil fuels (through coal mining; land and offshore drilling). They burn them to produce heat, to generate electricity, and to power various modes of transportation.
When fossil fuels get burned, they produce greenhouse gasses (GHGs) such as:
carbon dioxide (majority)
nitrous oxide
methane
Glaciers are melting because of greenhouse gas emissions.
As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warns:
“„
Greenhouse gasses trap heat and make the planet warmer.
Now you have an idea why the term “global warming” exists.
Other examples of fossil fuels are:
bitumen(also called asphalt or tar; used as an ingredient in some paints and in paving roads and in roofing)
heavy oils(heavy crude oil is used in making petrochemicals and plastics)
oil shales(they get refined to turn them into gasoline, diesel fuel, liquid petroleum gas or LPG)
petroleum
With their various uses, that explains why humans keep extracting and burning fossil fuels.
The table below shows how greenhouse gas emissions have increased over the years, based on a graph created by Our World in Data.
Year
Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the World
1990
32.52 billions of tons
1995
33.81 billions of tons
2000
35.84 billions of tons
2005
40.57 billions of tons
2010
44.88 billions of tons
2015
46.87 billions of tons
2019
49.76 billions of tons
In the U.S., according to EPA, below are the percentage of greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 by the country’s different sectors:
Economic Sectors (U.S.)
Percentage of GHG Emissions (2020)
Transportation
27 percent
Electric Power
25 percent
Industry
24 percent
Commercial and Residential
13 percent
Land Use and Forestry
13 percent
Agriculture
11 percent
In 2019, according to the World Population Review, the total greenhouse gas emission of the U.S. was 4.7 billion metric tons. For comparison, China’s total GHG emission was 9.8 billion metric tons.
Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier - which is as big as the state of Florida - melts faster than it did before (or some 5,500 years ago).
According to Live Science, it has already lost 595 billion tons of ice since the 1980s.
As the Thwaites Glacier continues to melt, the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) said that sea levels rise by 4 percent every year.
If ever sea levels will just rise by 1.5 meters (5 feet) because of the continuous melting of glaciers, some 226 million people across the globe will drown.
People will perish. Animals will die. Properties will be lost.
That’s based on the data published in February 2022 by The Swiftest, a San Francisco-based site that makes insurance industry research.
It added that the 135-meter-high London Eye, an observation wheel and a popular tourist attraction near the River Thames, will be completely submerged.
Yes, London will be underwater along with Dublin and Venice, New York and San Francisco, Dubai and Macau.
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), it’s like a domino effect. When glaciers melt, the sea levels rise. When they rise, they can cause coastal erosion.
The WWF added:
“„
Ninety-five percent of the oldest and thickest ice in the Arctic is already gone.
Moreover, storm surge, typhoons, and hurricanes can become even stronger (and therefore can wreak more havoc).
As Time reported in May 2022, Hurricane Ida (August 26-September 4, 2021) caused damages amounting to over $75 billion. In Venezuela, 107 died.
The article noted how the said hurricane happened “with little warning.”
Can the full-blown effects of glacial melting on humans be experienced with such a little warning, too?
A sea of melting ice sheets, with a man and a woman standing on an ice sheet
Geologist Reed Scherer told Discovery Magazine that some global climate models estimated that it could take 500 years for all the ice sheets in the Antarctic to melt.
And, if such a tragedy of colossal proportions ever happens, the sea levels across the world could increase up to 20 feet.