{"id":45353,"date":"2019-04-13T10:00:51","date_gmt":"2019-04-13T15:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=45353"},"modified":"2019-04-13T10:00:57","modified_gmt":"2019-04-13T15:00:57","slug":"glaciers-global-melt-may-leave-alps-bare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=45353","title":{"rendered":"Glaciers\u2019 global melt may leave Alps bare"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Glaciers\u2019 global melt may leave Alps bare<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Across much of the world, the ice is trickling off the peaks. Image: By Raul Taciu<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

High mountain ice is vital to millions. As the world warms, the glaciers\u2019 global melt could see the frozen peaks vanish.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

LONDON, 12 April, 2019 \u2013<\/em> Many of the planet\u2019s most scenic \u2013 and most valued \u2013 high-altitude landscapes are likely to look quite different within the next 80 years: the glaciers\u2019 global melt will have left just bare rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the century\u2019s end, Europe\u2019s famous Alps \u2013 the chain of snow- and ice-covered peaks that have become a playground of the wealthy and a source of income and pleasure for generations \u2013 will have lost more than nine-tenths of all its glacier ice<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in the last 50 years, the world\u2019s glaciers \u2013 in Asia, the Americas, Europe, Africa and the sub-Arctic mountains \u2013 have lost more than nine trillion tonnes of ice<\/a> as global temperatures creep ever upwards in response to profligate combustion of fossil fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as meltwater has trickled down the mountains, the seas have risen by 27mm<\/a>, thanks entirely to glacial retreat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPresent mass-loss rates indicate that glaciers could almost disappear in some mountain ranges in this century\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In two separate studies, Swiss scientists have tried to audit a profit and loss account for the world\u2019s frozen high-altitude rivers, and found a steady downhill trend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glacial ice is a source of security and even wealth: in the poorest regions the annual summer melt of winter snow and ice banked at altitude can guarantee both energy as hydropower and water for crops in the valleys and floodplains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In wealthy regions, the white peaks and slopes become sources of income as tourist attractions and centres for winter sport \u2013 as well as reliable sources of power and water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swiss focus<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Glaciers\u2019 global melt may leave Alps bare Across much of the world, the ice is trickling off the peaks. Image: By Raul Taciu on Unsplash High mountain ice is vital to millions. As the world warms, the glaciers\u2019 global melt could see the frozen peaks vanish. LONDON, 12 April, 2019 \u2013 Many of the planet\u2019s most scenic \u2013 and most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[25619,141,25620,328,25618,11565],"class_list":["post-45353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","tag-alps","tag-climate-change","tag-european-alps","tag-fossil-fuels","tag-glacier-melt","tag-tim-radford"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45353"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45354,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45353\/revisions\/45354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}