Global Warming: Melting Glaciers and Rising Sea Levels

Glaciers are shaping our world for millions of years, but its climate change warms the planet by which glaciers are disappearing not only altering the landscape they leave behind but changing our oceans, weathers and life on earth. A glacier is huge amount of ice which move slowly on land.

Glaciers can be classified to 2 general groups Alpine Glaciers and Ice Sheets.  Alpine Glacier forms on mountains sides and move downward through valleys. Sometime they create valleys by moving dirt and stones out of their way. These glaciers are found on every continent except Australia. Ice sheets unlike Alpine glacier are not limited to mountains areas. They found broad domes and spread out form their centers in all directions. As Ice Sheet spread they cover everything around them with thick cover of ice including valleys and even mountains. Glaciers provide people with many useful resources. Glacier provide fertile soil for growing crops and positive sand to make concrete. Many rivers are led by the melting ice of the glaciers. The most important resource provided by the glaciers is fresh water.

All the glaciers are shrinking every year. In 1800’s there were estimated to be about 150 glaciers and now we are only left by 25. The glaciers are measured by numbers of different ways one of the most obvious way is by using repeat photography where scientist go and occupy one place take pictures and then next year go at same spot take the picture from there to see the difference. Once you go every to 10 year you see a major difference.

Earths average temperature is increasing dramatically for more than a century. Glaciers can act as indicators global warming and climate change in separate ways. Melting ice sheets is contribute in increasing sea levels. As Ice Sheet in Antarctica in Greenland melt they raise sea levels ding fresh water in ocean every day. The loss of glacier ice also reduces the amount of fresh water available for plants and animals on land. Large amount of fresh water changed the Eco System of ocean water as well as oceans current. Additionally less salt in the ocean could disturb the gulf steam drastically changing the weather on land.

Since glaciers are so sensitive to climate change they increase the speed of glacier melt is the early warning for the rest of the rest of the planet. And if global warming goes unchecked many, if not all Alpine Glaciers could disappear completely.

Written by: Muhammad Hamid Khan