Glaciers Are Disappearing, Many Iconic Ones Could Be Gone Within Three Decades

Glaciers atop Mount Kilimanjero in Tanzania are among
the iconic glaciers around the world that will likely
disappear due to climate change by about 2050.

Many of the world's iconic glaciers are getting ready to disappear due to climate change, and it's very likely too late to save them even if we don't release another molecule of greenhouse gas.   

As AccuWeather reports:

"Glaciers at World Heritage sites shed around 58 billion tons of ice each year, UNESCO reports, which is equivalent to the total volume of water used annually in France and Spain combined. And these glaciers have already contributed nearly 5 percent of global sea level rise in the last 20 years."

According to the the AccuWeather report, glaciers cover around 10 percent of the world's land, which surprised me. What's supposed to happen is these glaciers can take up to 1,000 years to form. But then things get steady.  They gain mass during winter snows and cold, and lose mass in the summer as parts of them melt. 

Overall, in a perfect world, there wouldn't really be a net loss or gain of these glaciers over time. 

These glaciers will disappear whether or not effective climate change mitigation hits by 2050.

Among the glaciers expected to disappear are the last two remaining in Africa, on Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro. 

Remaining glaciers in Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks would go poof, too. 

Other iconic glaciers that are popular with tourists in Canada, Europe, central Asia and Russia are also slated to be gone by 2050 due to climate change. 

We should worry just as much about the melting of glaciers we never heard of as much as those that are more famous. In addition to the sea level rise to which the thawing glaciers contribute, these events cause scary water problems for millions of people.

In some areas of the world, the normal summer melt from glaciers supply critical water supplies. This works only if the glaciers are fully replenished during the winter. Since that's not happening anymore, the water supply that was coming from these ice fields disappears as soon as the glacier does. 

Or, too much water melts too fast from the glaciers. That's what happened in Pakistan this past spring and summer. Part of Pakistan's problem was excessive rains from monsoons. However, another big contributing factor was the record heat during the spring.

Glaciers melted super fast, and sometimes formed temporary lakes behind obstructions like other pieces of ice or rocks.  Finally, the water pressure would get to great, and the dams made of rock and ice would suddenly collapse, causing epic flash floods downstream.

CNN reported there were 16 such incidents in Pakistan this year, compared with the five or six that would happen in each of other recent years.

No, we don't have glaciers anywhere near us Vermonters. It's still yet another climate change problem we need to pay attention to.