All you need to know about glaciers melting
The Earth's glaciers have been silently retreating for more than half a century as climate change inexorably marches on.
The melting of the glaciers, a phenomenon that intensified in the 20th century, is leaving our planet iceless. Human activity is the main culprit in the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The sea level and global stability depend on how these great masses of recrystallized snow evolve.
The Earth’s glaciers have been silently retreating for more than half a century as climate change inexorably marches on. There is no place on the planet — except south-east Asia — capable of withstanding the effects of a phenomenon that has melted more than 9.6 billion tonnes of glacial ice in the world since 1961, according to a 2019 satellite study by the University of Zurich (Switzerland), and threatens to evaporate over a third of all glaciers by 2100, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Glacier formation
These massive blocks of moving ice arise as snow accumulated in cold places compacts and recrystallizes, for example, in mountain and polar glaciers, which should not be confused with the gigantic Arctic plates.
The formation of a glacier takes millennia, and its size varies depending on the amount of ice it retains throughout its lifespan. In total, glaciers cover 10% of the Earth’s surface and, along with the ice caps, account for nearly 70% of the world’s fresh water.
Causes for glaciers melt
CO2 emissions: the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) produced by industry, transport, deforestation and burning fossil fuels, amongst other human activities, warm the planet and cause glaciers to melt.
Ocean warming: oceans absorb 90% of the Earth’s warmth and this fact affects the melting of marine glaciers, which are mostly located near the poles and on the coasts of Alaska, US.
Effects of melting glaciers
Sea level rise: Glacial melting has contributed to raising sea levels by 2.7 centimetres since 1961. Furthermore, the world’s glaciers contain enough ice — about 170,000 cubic kilometres — to raise sea levels by nearly half a metre.
Impact on the climate: Glacial thawing at the poles is slowing the oceanic currents, a phenomenon related to altering the global climate and a succession of increasingly extreme weather events throughout the globe.
Disappearance of species: Glacial melting will also cause the extinction of numerous species, as glaciers are the natural habitat of a number of animals, both terrestrial and aquatic.
Less fresh water: The disappearance of glaciers also means less water for consumption by the population, a lower hydroelectric energy generation capacity, and less water available for irrigation.
Solution
Stop climate change: In order to curtail climate change and save the glaciers, it is indispensable that global CO2 emissions be reduced by 45 % over the next decade, and that they fall to zero after 2050.
Slow down their erosion: The scientific journal Nature suggested building a 100-metre-long dam in front of the Jakobshavn glacier (Greenland), the worst affected by Arctic melting, to contain its erosion.
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