Believe it or not - glaciers are growing!
January 28th, 2011 - 4:30 pm ICT by IANSLondon, Jan 28 (IANS) There is some good news regarding climate change - glaciers are actually growing!
The reason being that hotter summers may actually slow down the flow of glaciers, according to researchers.
Increased melting in the warmer summer is causing the internal drainage system of the ice sheet to accommodate more melt-water, without speeding up the flow of ice toward the oceans, the journal Nature reports.
Half of the ice flows in the Karakoram range of mountains are advancing and not retreating, researchers announced in the first major study since a 2007 United Nations report warned the glaciers would melt by 2035, according to the Daily Mail.
The new research, carried out by scientists at the University of California and the University of Potsdam, concluded that global warming is not directly responsible for how glaciers fare.
Bodo Bookhagen, geographer at California, said that “there is no stereotypical Himalayan glacier” and said the UN’s report “lumps all Himalayan glaciers together”, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Owing to this, the acceleration of melting appears to stall early on in hot summer, he said.
The Greenland ice sheet covers roughly 80 percent of the surface of the island and contains enough water to raise sea levels by seven metres if it were to melt completely.
- Greenland ice sheet is safer than scientists previously believed - Jan 27, 2011
- How heat is transported to Greenland glaciers - Mar 29, 2011
- Short-term weather extremes, not warming, driving Greenland ice sheet flow: Study - Dec 09, 2010
- Some Himalayan glaciers advancing, despite global warming - Jan 25, 2011
- Greenland ice sheet melted at record rates in 2010 - Jan 22, 2011
- Water flowing through ice sheets speeds up warming - Nov 04, 2010
- Greenland ice melted more than Antartica's - Aug 01, 2011
- Melting of Greenland's glaciers much more complex than previously imagined - Dec 17, 2009
- Greenland ice most vulnerable to global warming - Mar 12, 2012
- Himalayan glaciers won't shrink by 2035 - Jun 11, 2010
- Warning of rising seas alarmist and wrong - Dec 06, 2010
- Warming ocean layers melt polar ice sheets faster - Jul 04, 2011
- Scientists develop tool to predict tsunamis, landslides - Apr 18, 2011
- Alarm bells over Greenland ice melt - Oct 26, 2011
- Greenland rapidly rising due to ice melting - May 19, 2010
Tags: acceleration, climate change, daily mail, daily telegraph, drainage system, geographer, global warming, greenland ice sheet, himalayan glacier, himalayan glaciers, hot summer, internal drainage, jan 28, journal nature, karakoram range, london jan, oceans, range of mountains, sea levels, university of potsdam