Climate Change Workshop – BAESI – 5th Nov. 2011© Chevron 2011 1

Glaciers

Distribution of Earth’s water

Storehouses of our freshwater> If all of it melted sea level would rise 70 m (230 ft)

California Glacier has 20 named glaciers!

Climate Change Workshop – BAESI – 5th Nov. 2011© Chevron 2011 2

Glaciers

Wikipedia

Wikipedia

Glacier Peak Wilderness(USA)

1973

2006

Ice margin

20012005 2003

Helheim Glacier (Greenland)

1993 2000

"Just connect the dots," said Ohio State University geologist Lonnie Thompson. "If things remain as they have, in 15 years [Kilimanjaro's glaciers] will be gone."

18’000 glaciers currently meltingin the Himalayas

Climate Change Workshop – BAESI – 5th Nov. 2011© Chevron 2011 3

Glaciers

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15216875

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Antarctic Ice Shelf

Antarctic climate is cold and arid (desert)Antarctic ice sheet is the earth’s largest freshwater body (70%)!

Glaciers (ice streams) flow towards the edges of the continent.Ice Shelves: floating extensions of outflowing ice streams of the continental ice mass.Melting of ice shelves does not contribute much to sea-level rise (since the ice displaces only its own mass of water.

Continent-wide average surface temp trend (1957-2006): +0.05 deg C (E. Steig 2009)

West Antarctica: net outflow of glacial ice (will contribute to rising sea-level over time; ~0.14 mm)East Antarctica: cold region with base above sea level; small net accumulation; lowering sea level.

Larsen B

Climate Change Workshop – BAESI – 5th Nov. 2011© Chevron 2011 5

Antarctic Ice Shelf

Strongest warming in East Antarctic Peninsula (0.1 deg C from 1957-2006; Eric Steig 2009)

Larsen B Ice ShelfLarge part collapsed in 35 days (2002); stable for previous 10’000 years.

Although shelf-ice does not contribute (much) to sea-level rise it has a very important role in buttressing the feeder glaciers. Expected speed-up of inland ice-mass collapse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=jQPPJxk--w8