Glacial Retreat: Evidence of Global Warming - Essay Example

GLACIAL RETREAT: EVIDENCE OF GLOBAL WARMING? The debate on global climate change has been raging with a forecasted significant socio-economic challenge if not remedied. Global warming is particularly seen to pose critical problem if sound climate management approaches are not made. The most important aspect of understanding global warming requires research on its evidence. In this regard, it is important to draw the relationship between global temperature changes in response to global warming. One of the evident factors that shows significant rise in global temperature is the glacier which is gradually retreating (Gerhard, et al.2001). It is therefore important to carry out in-depth assessment on the concepts surrounding glacier as a geological topic and relate it with the observed climate change. Recent scientific investigation indicates that glacier has been vanishing around the globe and this offers a stark image of the rising temperatures. It is worth to note that glacial development takes place in areas of high snow fall with low temperatures that leads to faster snow accumulation than melting. The resulting snow becomes ice and moves slowly downhill. Literature review indicates that countries like scot land were shaped by glacial action as recorded from the last ice age which is estimated to have ended in the past 10,000 years. It is important to note that the force of glacier can significantly alter the shape of landscape through its ability to cut deep valleys, corries carving eventually dumping large quantities of debris when melting (Knight, 2006). A close analysis of the modern Glasgow city and Edinburgh shows much past glacial movement that result into their contemporary glacial landforms. Although such several glacial actions have been there in the past, it is taking another direction in terms of rate of melting. It is now a common knowledge that glacial retreat rate has dramatically increased in the last decades. This is associated with the increasing trend in local and global temperatures and this is being experienced by most of the continents. Major scientific predictions give an elaborate possibility of melting ice from glaciers becoming the greatest cause of sea-level rise during the 21st century. This is already posing significant threat to the global leaders and humanity in general. There is an estimated rise of sea level in a range of 100 to 240 mm by the year 2100 as a result of accelerated ice cap and glacial melt around the world (Casper, 2010). There is an indication of glacial size increase in some parts of the world like in Norway due to high rate of snow fall that is consistent with temperature change hence keeping the rate of melting lower than rate of accumulation. The concept behind glacier is that its advance or retreat is regulated by the equilibrium between snowfall and rate of melting. Taking the case of Himalayas, the melting of ice fields and glaciers is raising concern. This has been evidenced by increasing seasonal ice melts in the region which ends up in rivers, Ganges, the Yangtze among others in China, South East Asia, and India. The volume of water approximated at over 2.5 billion that result from the ice melt in Himalayas shows a worrying trend in the overall climate change with emphasis on temperature rise (Knight, 2006). It is also important to note the glacial ice has age factor which ranges from several hundreds to thousands of years and this has made it a significant topic of research on climate issues. Procedures involved in determining the climate record from the past include drilling and extraction of ice from the glacier. This has been done from countries as representative of the major continents including Greenland, Peru, Europe, Canada, Antarctica and Asia. The intensive experiments and analysis of findings establish the information on past global climate which is used as basis of comparison to the current period in an effort to identify the changes (Gerhard, et al.2001). Various scientific analysis of the ice cores’ component emphasizes on trapped air bubbles which reflects atmospheric composition of the past, temperatures changes and classes of vegetation. Geological concepts explain that glaciers preserve parts of the atmosphere for a long period of time in the trapped tiny air bubbles. These are then used by researchers to establish the validity of the fact that there have been several ice ages in the world. Reconstruction of such past eras shows how climate changed and how it is likely to change in the future. Based on such investigative research, there has been evident relationship between the increased glacial retreats to changes in global temperature (Knight, 2006). Undertaking experiments on glacial actions and the systematic variation in size reflects the level of global climate changes which has remained debatable across the world. There is also the human factor as far as global temperatures and glacial retreat is concerned. There is significant belief in the industrial revolution’s influence in the unprecedented glacial retreat. From 1760 when industrial revolution took shape, significant number of ice caps, ice shelves and glacier have disappeared completely in the current century. Many other such glaciers are retreating at a rapid rate and will likely vanish in the next few decades. There has been a discovery of archeological materials within ice which further indicates gradual melting to finally expose the covered substances. In the recent past major glacial coverage of dead organisms has been found out in Alps Mountain. This was the case with 5000 years old ice man in 1991 which had seemingly been under preservation in Alpine glaciers. This is an evident fact that glaciers are increasingly retreating as compared to the past 5000 years (Casper, 2010). It is common to come by artistic and photographic presentation of past colder winters which is closely related to the changing equilibrium between glacial advance and retreat. This case can typically be observed from the artistic visual evidence of Thames and its conspicuous frost fairs. It is imperative that the coverage of glacier across the world is also given in-depth assessment to establish the changes and factors causing it. The rise in sea level is a result of increased water influx from tributary rivers most of which have their source from the glacial melts. This triggers significant evidence of cause-effect relationship that supports the idea of glacial retreat. The role of temperature in glacial retreat or advance can typically be demonstrated by the mid-latitudes‘observation in which winter precipitation is overwhelmed. This is supportive of the fact that a significant proportion of the summer heat efficiently melts the ice. It has been realized that a unit Celsius increase in temperature is enough to melt ice by one meter vertically on annual basis. Research indicates that in typical mid-latitude glaciers, an order of 1 m/year which is ice equivalent or estimated at 3m of snow is the resulting winter snow accumulation (Gerhard, et al.2001). This means that a unit increase in temperature during summer is equivalent to one year of zero accumulation of snow. This shows that glaciers comprise of significant sensitivity to temperature changes. It is on this ground that glaciologists recorded temperature changes from glacial size variations. This approach employs the compilation of various data to approximate new changes in global temperature. This also incorporates the uncertainty factor on the temperature estimate which can be attributed to plausible winter precipitation changes. Another factor that clearly expose the relationship between glacial retreat and temperature changes can be seen from the less pronounced arctic losses which can be attributed to much cold glaciers and refreezing of the extra melt water within the ice mass (Knight,2006). Despite considerable variations in the locals and global temperatures in the short run, the aggregate global findings show unprecedented loss and glacial retreat in the past century. This shows that although other factors amount to glacial retreat, temperature change accounts for the greater effect. Economic progress of the world has indicated consistent trend with increased rate of glacial retreat in various parts of the world. The heat energy and carbon emission can be attributed to these observations. The ongoing global campaign for economic reforms and emphasis on environment care towards global climate is a clear evidence of human factor as indirectly responsible to the increased glacial retreat. Industrialization has stepped up consumption of petroleum fuel and coal energy which emit significant amount of carbon to the atmosphere. The carbon emissions results into greenhouse effect which has seen the better part of the Asian emerging economies struggling to cut down on carbon emission. The relation between human activity, temperature change and glacial retreat in Asia and China as an example can be seen from the significant ice melt in Himalayas leading to ever high river water levels (Casper, 2010) .It is clear from the comparative human activity from ancient period through 21st century that changes in glacier in various mountains and higher altitude areas has been on the slow increase trend. It can be concluded from the facts and figures found on past literature and future predictions that glacial retreat is in progress and is consistent with the global temperature changes. Unless critical measures are put in place, the glacial retreat is likely to increase and the consequences are unbearable to the global ecosystem and humanity at large. References Casper, J. K. (2010). Global warming cycles: Ice ages and glacial retreat. New York: Facts on File Gerhard, L. C., Harrison, W. E., Hanson, B. M., American Association of Petroleum Geologists., & Kansas Geological Survey. (2001). Geological perspectives of global climate change. Tulsa, OK: American Association of Petroleum Geologists in collaboration with the Kansas Geological Survey and the AAPG Division of Environmental Geosciences. Knight, P. (2006). Glacier science and environmental change. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. Read More