Glaciers are commonly defined as gigantic masses of ice and snow accumulations that exceed ablation over a considerable amount of years. These enormous “ice mountains” embellish the natural scenery of every continent on the planet. Glaciers are the most important world resource of fresh water and the largest one on earth, after oceans, when it comes to the total amount of water. Glaciers help environmentalists and scientists trace climate change and are crucial to the sea level variation. Glaciers need a set of particular climatic conditions that are mostly found in regions with cool temperatures in the summer and snowy winters. Under the pressure of its own weight combined with the force of gravity these colossal structures slowly move or flow.
As they move, glaciers slowly remodel their environment thanks to process of erosion and deposition. “A glacier can “carve” a valley, wearing away rocks and soil through abrasion and plucking up and moving large pieces of rock and debris” (Source: http://nsidc.org/glaciers/story/move.html ). A glacier’s life is put on hold when it stops growing in size and starts to move “in retreat”. A glacier’s retreat is mainly caused by increased temperature, evaporation and strong winds. Ablation is a natural part of a glacier’s life “as long as snow accumulation equals or is greater than melt and ablation, glacier are maintained” (Source: http://nsidc.org/glaciers/story/retreat.html). Over the past century an increasing numbers of glaciers have retreated and are slowly disappearing. For the past several years the world climate has been getting considerably warmer, increasing temperatures, rising sea levels are stirring controversy and debate amongst environmentalists.
Scientists like Hugh Kieffer are monitoring and studying climate change by keeping track of the melting of glaciers. “The global scale combined with a long study period will give the scientists the broad perspective needed to determine whether worldwide changes in climate are actually taking place” (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/05/010529235344.htm ). After only a couple of months of studies, the melting of glaciers all over the world is providing an important evidence for the alarming presence of global warming. Growing or shrinking are normal steps that can take part of a glacier’s life and shouldn’t alarm everyone. The situation becomes more unusual when most glaciers are doing more shrinking than growing all over the world. For instance, the Columbia Glacier located in Prince William Sound, has become the world’s fastest melting glacier. It is sliding into the ocean at a “rate of 80 feet per day and has thinned up to 1,300 feet in places during the past 25 years, dumping 2 cubic miles of ice into the sound annually” (Source: http://www.livescience.com/environment/060324_glacier_melt.html ). In certain situations, a glacier can weaken so much that at a point it simply collapses entirely. The most serious consequence of this glaciers’ disappearing is the alarming rise of sea levels. Within a couple of years, the rising sea levels could submerge coastal regions, putting at risk beautiful and unique cities like Venice. In the Antarctic Peninsula, ice shelves are connected to the continent while they are already floating on water, keeping in place the sheet of ice of the Antarctic continent. When the ice shelves break off, this renders the situation easy for glaciers to drift off into the sea and cause a rise in the sea level.
Up to now, European glaciers have been the ones more at risk of disappearing due to the consequences of global warming. Since the beginning of the 19th century, the Pyrenees lost two-thirds of their ice cover. Moreover, more than half of the glaciers in the Alps have already disappeared. “Often called the water tower of Europe, the Alps contain 40% of Europe’s fresh water supply. The dramatic disappearance of ice on the Matterhorn last year has prompted the need for the border between Switzerland and Italy to be redrawn” (Source: http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/blogs/top-7-disappearing-glaciers). An additional example of this somewhat tragic situation is the case of the famous Glacier National Monument in Montana. According to the latest reports the area has lost more than 50% of its glaciers.
Global warming is the main cause for the disappearance of glaciers yet; one needs to keep in mind that pollution is in great part responsible for glacier recession. If public opinion seems to be pleased about warmer winters and a more pleasant weather, this change comes with more severe consequences. Global warming is threatening the balance of various precious eco-systems, impacting on the life of glaciers and sea levels. A major attention needs to be paid in regards to the conservation of our planet. Wreckless behaviors and pollution will have a serious impact on our future.
