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https://apnews.com/article/glacier-ice-snow-melt-climate-change-alaska-58d77cbec294be705504b73da3003309>
"The melting of Alaska’s Juneau icefield, home to more than 1,000 glaciers, is
accelerating. The snow covered area is now shrinking 4.6 times faster than it
was in the 1980s, according to a new study.
Researchers meticulously tracked snow levels in the nearly 1,500-square mile
icy expanse going back to 1948 with added data back to the 18th century. It
slowly shriveled from its peak size at the end of the Little Ice Age around
1850, but then that melt rate sped up about 10 years ago, according to a study
in Tuesday’s
Nature Communications.
“What’s happening is that as the climate is changing, we’re getting shorter
winters and longer summers,” study lead author Bethan Davies, a glaciologist at
Newcastle University in England. “We’re having more melt, longer melt season.”
It’s melting so fast that the flow of ice into water from now averages about
50,000 gallons every second, according to study co-author Mauri Pelto, a
professor of environmental science at Nichols College in Massachusetts.
“In fact, glacier shrinkage in Alaska from the year 2000 to the year 2020,
we’re losing more ice in Alaska than anywhere else,” Davies said.
Only four Juneau icefield glaciers melted out of existence between 1948 and
2005. But 64 of them disappeared between 2005 and 2019, the study said. Many of
the glaciers were too small to name, but one larger one, Antler glacier, “is
totally gone,” Pelto said.
Alaska climatologist Brian Brettschneider, who was not part of the study, said
the acceleration is most concerning, warning of “a death spiral” for the
thinning icefield."
Via Joyce Donahue and Kenny Chaffin.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
