Melting of 'OK' glacier : A message of impending crisis

Abstract

Ashutosh Dubey Presenting Paper in Seminar

This paper contains a study of 'OK' glacier which recently melts down. Within last 2 to 3 decades, there are several glaciers which are on the same path as of OK glacier including The Great Himalayan Ranges, hence the information about the all is also a part of this paper. later on, the paper discussed the impact of worldwide phenomena of melting glaciers, how it is harmful to mankind as well as for nature, the scarcity of freshwater is the major problem would be faced by the world as a result of same. And finally, we discussed the cause of this disaster and try to conclude for a solution.

1. Introduction

Okjokull (ok) is one of 400 ancient glaciers of Iceland. But unfortunately, this Glacier had died in 2014. At the sight of this dead glacier, a Plaque is set up, which is titled as, A letter to the future, incarnated as "Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier. In the next 200 years, all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. this monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. only you know if we did it" August 2019.

But the question is how a very large ice body disappears only in three decades? Firstly we have to understand how the glaciers work. The sum of accumulation and the ablation is known as glacier`s mass balance, which may fluctuate naturally from year to year and over decades. But now the problem is that the ablation is much more than that of accumulation which results in rapidly disappearing of glaciers.

2. Melting Glacier: a Global Phenomena

While OK was the first sign of climate change in Iceland, but probably won`t be last. Iceland`s glaciers are losing about 10 billion tons of ice every year and it is estimated that all 400 glaciers of that region will likely to be dead up to 2200. Since the mid-1990s rapidly thinning of glaciers has been a universal trend. An overwhelming majority of Iceland`s glaciers are decreasing in volume almost every year. According to the National Snow and Ice data center (NSIDC) , "Over 90% of the measured Alpine glaciers in the world are retreating in almost every major glaciated region. The cause of this widespread retreat are varied but the underlying primary causes are a warming climate due to the increased industrial activities..."

Satellite images show that glaciers in the US and Canada are shrinking four times faster than in the previous decade. The list is very long, Mount Hunter in Denali national park, is seeing 60 times more snowmelt than it did in the last 150 years. Satellite data showed Antarctica lost as much as sea ice in four years as the Arctic lost in last 34 years.

The most catastrophic phenomena are the melting of Himalayan glaciers. Studies show that their melting rate is dramatically accelerated since the start of the 21st century.  40 years of satellite observations across India, China, Nepal, and Bhutan indicates that glaciers have been losing its ice as double as from 1975 to 200. The study indicates that climate change is eating the Himalayas` glaciers. Temperature varies from place to place, but from 2000-2016 it is averaged 1-degree centigrade higher than those from 1975 to 2000.

3. Impact of Melting Glaciers

There are several impacts of melting glaciers on the environment and on mankind. This affects both presents as well as the future generation. This is the question of survival on the planet Earth. The following effects are directly seen as a result of melting glaciers:-

a)  Glaciers are the main source of freshwater, if they are depleted by the current rate then there is a great scarcity of water will be seen in the near future. Almost 800 million people depend in part on seasonal runoff from Himalayan glaciers for irrigation, hydropower and most importantly for drinking water. A scientist said that the situation will be worst within decades. with shrinking glaciers, less water will be available for nearby river systems in the condition of low rainfall and therefore millions of people could lose their primary water supplies which rise to a problem of survival for millions of peoples. It is estimated that averagely 8 billion tons of water lost every year.

West Antarctica is lost its ice very fast. A complete loss of the West Antarctica ice sheet would be expected to increase global sea level by about 5 meters, means coastal cities around the world would be submerged.

b)  the list of projected consequences also includes isostasy, it is a process whereby reduced ice removes weight from the earth`s crust, causing the land to slowly rise. over a whole century, this rise is a meter or even several meters around Vatnajokull, a place of highest melting of glaciers. This is a great consequence for local people.

c) Melting of glaciers can also lead to increased volcanic activities as when the weight of ice is reduced, there is a change in the melting point of magma in the upper mantle, which somewhat increase in the production of magma and hence volcanic eruptions.

4. Reason Behind the Melting Glaciers

In the fifth Assessment report by NASA, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of one thousand three hundred independent scientific experts from all over the world concluded that there is a more than 95 % probability that limitless exploitation of natural resources such as the burning of fossil fuel, emission of harmful gases by giant industries, etc  over the last fifty years have warmed our planet and pace of this exploitation is increasing.

Responsible for these damages, like giant petrochemical companies, carbon dioxide, and CFCs gas emitters mislead by the wrong fact that these are solely due to the cycle process of the sun's energy output. Studies show that it played a major role in past climate changes but plenty of pieces of evidence show that the current global warming can't be explained by changes in energy from the sun. Due to the following reasons :

• Since 1750 the average amount of energy coming from the sun remains constant.

• If the warming is due to the increasing sun's energy then scientists would expect to see warmer temperatures in all layers of the atmosphere but they observed that there is a cooling in the upper atmosphere and a warming at the surface and in the lower parts of the atmosphere. That's because greenhouse gases are trapping heat in the lower atmosphere.

Apart from all these false consciousness we have to identify the real culprits with scientific reasons behind all these.

-- Ashutosh Dubey (Teacher at Golden Bell School, Meerut) and Mukul Sharma (Teacher at JPIS, Meerut)