10,000 Years of Andean Glacier Melt Explained - Research Paper Example

Project on 10,000 Years of Andean Glacier Melt Explained By (please place all data on the title page) IRD researchers along with their partner have explained the reasons for 10,000 years of Andean glacier melt with their research processes. IRD also stated that the Telata glacier which is situated at Bolivia moved away by 3kms at the time of Holocene period which covered the time and it is continuing till now. The regression was basically related to the increase in temperature by 3°C which resulted warming of the Pacific Ocean.

The research was conducted by IRD with several phases. The first phase includes a recent dating method which aims to reconstruct the chronology of the 10,000 years of glacier melt. The research method involves a measurement of the concentration of the chemical elements which resulted in building up in rock. The glaciologists who were involved in the research work applied the past climate model to find out what exactly caused the variation in the volume of Telata glacier. The research also focused on the tropical glaciers from the beginning of the industrial period.

It also focuses on the high exposure of the masses of ice at a higher altitude like 5000 m where the severity of warming is quite high. The reasons for melting of glacier has been stated by different researchers across the world in different ways but the actual causes for the Andean Glacier Melt is still unknown or vaguely known to people. Most of the Andean glaciers are situated at a very high altitude and sometime the altitude is more than 5000 m. The glacier is very sensitive to the climate warming which resulted in the dislocation of the tropical glacier and the elevation.

Many researchers have told that the elevation and melting is occurring for several decades but the in order to find out the exact causes of the case, the IRD researchers found out the history of the glacier for a long period of time. The IRD researchers have built up their first reconstruction of the history of the ice masses for last 10,000 years which they call as Holocene geological epoch. The researchers conducted this work at Bolivian glacier Telata which is situated at a distance of 30kms from north of La Paz.

La Paz is the capital of Bolivia. According to the research done by IRD researchers the surface of the glacier shrank by almost 90% in the 10,000 years and the front side of the ice had receded by more than 3 kms. The regression of the glacier had been started very slowly but the acceleration was increased in last 200 years. The strong acceleration was found from 1820 and the glacier retreat more than 2 kms in the last 200 years which is quite interesting fact if compared with the distance it retreated in the 10000 years.

The IRD researchers also found some evidences of past position of the glacier. The IRD scientists focused mainly on the deposits which consist of the building up of the rock behind the glacier. The moraines, deposits provide some important evidences of what the position of the glacier was. The members in the research team determined the age of the deposits and the chronology of the deposits in order to retrace the phases of the formation of the glacier. They used the recently developed dating method for this purpose.

The dating method also helped the researchers for measuring the concentration of the elements for the case. The cosmic radiation in the surface of the rock showed the nuclear reaction which is responsible for the nuclear reaction and it triggered the formation of some of the minerals of the elements. Measuring the concentration helped the scientists a lot to determine the duration of exposure of the rock. It was very easy to determine the reasons for the ice melt on Telata after gathering the previous information on the case.

The researchers related the volume of the ice with the precipitations and temperatures during the time of different positions of the glacier. They concluded that the retreat can be mainly related with the atmospheric warming of 3°C during the Holocene period. I think this is the main reason for the melting of the glacier. The incident occurred mainly due to the increase in the temperature in the sea surface of the tropical Pacific Ocean and the increase in temperature was continued throughout the 10000 years.

The researchers also stated that there will be a rise in temperature of around 4°C to 5°C by the end of 2100 which will be the highest raise in temperature in the world. References: ScienceDaily, (2011). 10,000 Years of Andean Glacier Melt Explained. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110909111646.htm.