. 24/7 Space News .
ICE WORLD
Mountaintop glacier ice disappearing in tropics around the world
by Laura Arenschield
Columbus OH (SPX) Jun 29, 2021

stock image only

Mountaintop glacier ice in the tropics of all four hemispheres covers significantly less area - in one case as much as 93% less - than it did just 50 years ago, a new study has found.

The study, published online recently in the journal Global and Planetary Change, found that a glacier near Puncak Jaya, in Papua New Guinea, lost about 93% of its ice over a 38-year period from 1980 to 2018. Between 1986 and 2017 the area covered by glaciers on top of Kilimanjaro in Africa decreased by nearly 71%.

The study is the first to combine NASA satellite imagery with data from ice cores drilled during field expeditions on tropical glaciers around the world. That combination shows that climate change is causing these glaciers, which have long been sources of water for nearby communities, to disappear and indicates that those glaciers have lost ice more quickly in recent years.

The two datasets allowed the researchers to quantify exactly how much ice has been lost from glaciers in the tropics. Those glaciers are "the canaries in the coal mines," said Lonnie Thompson, lead author of the study, distinguished university professor of Earth Sciences at The Ohio State University and senior research scientist at Ohio State's Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center.

"These are in the most remote parts of our planet--they're not next to big cities, so you don't have a local pollution effect," Thompson said. "These glaciers are sentinels, they're early warning systems for the planet, and they all are saying the same thing."

The study compared changes in the area covered by glaciers in four regions: Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the Andes in Peru and Bolivia, the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas of Central and South Asia, and ice fields in Papua, New Guinea, Indonesia. Thompson has led expeditions to all these glaciers and recovered ice cores from each.

The cores are long columns of ice that act as timelines of sorts for the regions' climates over centuries to millennia. As snow falls on a glacier each year, it is buried and compressed to form ice layers that trap and preserve the chemistry of snow and whatever is in the atmosphere, including pollutants and biological material such as plants and pollen. Researchers can study those layers and determine what was in the air at the time the ice formed.

One image taken in 2019 of the top of Huascaran, the highest tropical mountain in the world, shows ice retreating upslope and exposing the rock beneath. Analyses performed by researchers at the University of Colorado showed that the area of the glacier ice on top of that mountain decreased by nearly 19% from 1970 to 2003. In 2020, the surface area of the Quelccaya Ice Cap, the second-largest glaciated area in the tropics, had decreased by 46% from 1976, the year Thompson drilled the first ice core from its summit.

Around the time of Thompson's first expedition, NASA launched the first version of its Landsat mission. Landsat is a collection of satellites that photograph Earth's surface and has been in operation in various forms since 1972. It offers the longest continuous space-based record of Earth's land, ice and water.

"We are in this unique position where we have ice core records from these mountaintops, and Landsat has these detailed images of the glaciers, and if we combine those two data sets, we see clearly what is happening," Thompson said.

Glaciers in the tropics respond more quickly to climate change and as they exist in the warmest areas of the world, they can survive only at very high altitudes where the climate is colder. Before Earth's atmosphere warmed, the precipitation there fell as snow. Now, much of it falls as rain that causes the existing ice to melt even faster.

"You're not sustaining the ice at the highest elevations anymore," said co-author Christopher Shuman, associate research professor at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County and associate research scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. "It's this interplay between the warm air lower down melting away the margins of the ice fields while the very highest elevations are still cold enough to get a certain amount of snowfall, but not enough to sustain the ice cap to the dimensions it once was."

That could have profound repercussions for people who live near those glaciers.

The study details the story of one community near the Quelccaya Ice Cap, and the aftermath of a flood caused by massive amounts of ice that fell from the glacier into a nearby glacial lake. The flood destroyed fields that one farming family had spent years cultivating and so frightened the family that they moved four hours away from the community to start a new life in the city.

In Papua New Guinea, the ice has cultural significance for many of the indigenous people who live near the ice fields, as they consider the ice to be the head of their god. Thompson believes the ice fields there will disappear entirely within two or three years.

It is too late for those glaciers, Thompson said, but not too late to attempt to slow the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere, which are causing the planet to warm.

"The science doesn't change the trajectory we're on - regardless of how clear the science is, we need something to happen to change that trajectory," he said.

Research paper


Related Links
Ohio State University
Beyond the Ice Age


Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly


paypal only
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal


ICE WORLD
Ice shelf disintegration accelerating Pine Island Glacier descent toward sea
Washington DC (UPI) Jun 11, 2021
Already Antarctica's fastest moving glacier, new research suggests Pine Island Glacier's descent into the sea is accelerating as its ices shelf weakens. Scientists at the University of Washington and British Antarctic Survey detailed Pine Island's worrying prognosis in a new paper, published Friday in the journal Science Advances. "We may not have the luxury of waiting for slow changes on Pine Island; things could actually go much quicker than expected," study lead author Ian Joughin sai ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

ICE WORLD
How astronauts can do laundry during space mission

Astronauts enjoy many food, beverage choices in orbit

US, French astronauts make ISS spacewalk

Sierra Space and Rhodium Scientific exploring viability of science operations on Sierra Space Life Habitat

ICE WORLD
Operational Fires Program completes successful rocket engine tests

Turkey invites Russia to take part in construction of country's spaceport

Boost for UK space sector as new facility offers cheaper and greener rocket testing

Debris from carrier rocket drop safely

ICE WORLD
Getting a robot to take a selfie on Mars

Jezero crater's 'Delta Scarp' revealed in new images

Lockheed Martin aeroshell selected to for next Mars lander

Mars rover to move south after testing

ICE WORLD
Xi lauds 'new horizon' for humanity in space chat with astronauts

Successful program ignited by modest spark of an idea

Astronauts board China's new space station for first time

Astronauts arrange new 'home' in space

ICE WORLD
OneWeb and BT to explore rural connectivity solutions for UK

EXIM approves $80M to support insurance coverage for Hispasat satellite

USAF, FAA collaborate on commercial space regulations

South Australia startups target international space opportunities

ICE WORLD
Northrop Grumman flight tests Digital Wideband AESA Sensor

US Navy tests warship's metal with megablast

Compact quantum computer for server centers

Meringue-like material could make aircraft as quiet as a hairdryer

ICE WORLD
Nightside radio could help reveal exoplanet details

Some seafloor microbes can take the heat: And here's what they eat

SpaceML.org aims to accelerate AI application in space science and exploration

Earth-like biospheres on other planets may be rare

ICE WORLD
Next stop Jupiter as country's interplanetary ambitions grow

First images of Ganymede as Juno sailed by

Leiden astronomers calculate genesis of Oort cloud in chronologically order

NASA's Juno to get a close look at Jupiter's Moon Ganymede









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.