My first article is the “UNESCO World Heritage site film on Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina”. This clip tell you Los Glaciares is the third largest ice field in the world and how the snow falls and become a part of the ice fields. Both were very interesting and provided me with a better understanding of glaciers and how they can support and sustain many communities around the world and the connection to global warming. What really caught my attention when the clips also tells you that the ice is trans-parent and reflects blue light and absorbs all other colors.
Yet it tell you about other colors you only see the blue ice. The park shows you Icebergs that looks like mountains and the part of the park that trees is still there and how it can substain the winds. I was amazed to see the Guancos which the clips tell you that it is a part of the camel family but they do not have humps in their backs. As I continue looking the different pictures of the park you see mountains, lakes and woods. Los Glaciares National Park most striking sight is beauty of the landscape and huge lake.
The park lies in the rain shadow of the Andes, and where the snowfall during winter is common, and westerly windstorms usually occur during late spring and summer. Wow, the facts in this article were pretty scary. Each time I read an article it revolves more and more around global warming. I had no idea global warming has such far reaching effects, the melting of glaciers and sea ice, rising of sea levels, erratic temperatures, and the increase in rain and snowfall and so much more. It seems like when you hear about a particular phenomenon it evokes yet another.
The trend with glaciers is that they are rapidly decreasing. It states that the Columbia Glacier in Prince William Sound in Alaska is the world’s fastestmelting glacier. It moves 80 feet a day into the ocean. Also, the thickness of this glacier is usually 3,000 feet but over the last 25 years it reduced to only 1,300 feet. Global warming is responsible for glaciers to weaken until they collapse. The article also points out that summers in the Arctic could be no longer icy in 100 years, which would endanger the polar bears. As temperatures increase, glaciers recede and the faster glaciers melt, the faster seas will rise.
The loss of glaciers also has consequences for park ecosystems and the declining amazing landscapes we treasure. I selected the above characteristics as the facts above tell us how quickly glaciers disappear and we do not even realize it. Whereas the Glacier National Park the glaciers are decreasing rapidly decreasing. Global Warming is responsible for glacier to weaken until they collapse. Both were very interesting and provided me with a better understanding of glaciers and how they can support and sustain many communities around the world and the connection to global warming.
My second article I chose “Glaciers Disappear in before & after Photos” from the live science website, and I choose “The Effects of Melting Ice Glaciers” from the buzzle website. The theme of both articles was the glaciers around the world are melting too fast. On the live science website what stuck out to me was that soot in the glaciers from automobiles and industrial chimneys also play a role in the increase melting of the glaciers? Clean ice reflects the sunlight and stays cool but the sooty ice absorbs warmth from the sun making the glacier melt.
That was shocking to me because I did not know glaciers could even carry those things within. How far the chemicals travel amazed me. The other article from the buzzle website breaks down the effects that the people and animals would face when glaciers start to melt too fast. One factor that I did not deeply think about is how it would affect the animals. The article states how the melting of the glaciers makes the sea-level rise, making the sea coral receive less light. In time this would kill them then leave the fish that live in the coral nowhere to hide or eat.
The fish would die from the lack of food, making it hard for the birds that prey on the fish survival. That made the focus on the food chain and how each section of the pyramid needs the other for survival. The glaciers of the world are surely melting at a very high rate and this is evidenced by the 80 feet per day melting rate by the Columbia Glacier. It is important for all stakeholders involved in matters of climate to provide adequate guidance in reducing global warming and subsequently maintaining the icebergs.
The melting glaciers are already having effects in rising sea levels and change in habitats especially at the arctic circles. Fish and marine life is also under threat from melting glaciers. Disappearing before our eyes are the beautiful glaciers created by the elements of the atmosphere. Within the article “Glaciers Disappear in Before & after Photos” from the live science website, and “The Effects of Melting Ice Glaciers” from the buzzle website, they express the important role glaciers play as one of earth’s natural resources.
Glaciers not only provide for about 75% of the world’s fresh water. They are also a source of electricity and a replenishing source of water to the oceans as they are continuously evaporating. The article on the live science website pointed out that the clear ice does not absorb and retain heat as rapidly as the ice that is darker, imprinted with dust and soot from the burning of fossil fuels, forest fires and volcanic ash.
This plays a significant role in the rapidly melting of the glaciers. The most significant and saddening elements are the effects on the human and animal well being when the glaciers disappear faster than nature had intended them to. With the glaciers melting, humans that depend on the glaciers for water consumption and an agricultural water source as well as their electricity source will and are beginning to suffer.
As the glaciers disappear, the polar bears are losing their source of travel as the ice bergs no longer cover the sea between one land source and another for them to travel on. The oceans are rising making them deeper, effecting all marine life and the birds that depend on it for their food source. The rising ocean will reform the coastlines making it difficult for animals as well as humans to access to their food and travel source. I’ve just looked at the beauty of the glaciers, never thinking of the hardship they will produce as they disappear.
