Science Seminar: Earth Science

“We have definitely confirmed that the great majority of the world’s glaciers are retreating, thinning, or losing mass” says Jeffery Kargel, a hydrologist from the University of Arizona and principal investigator of the GLIMS project.

Due to sheer mass, glaciers flow like very slow rivers. Some glaciers are as small as football fields, while others grow to be dozens or even hundreds of kilometers long.

But the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers have been melting at such a rapid rate that it has become too dangerous for tourists to hike onto them from the valley floor, ending a tradition that dates back a century.

With over 700 miles of trails, Glacier is a hiker's paradise for adventurous visitors seeking wilderness and solitude. Relive the days of old through historic chalets, lodges, transportation, and stories of Native Americans. Explore Glacier National Park and discover what awaits you.

“In the 1970s, people thought glaciers were permanent. They didn’t think that glaciers would recede. They thought this glacier would endure. But then the climate began changing, and temperatures climbed.”

An iceberg about 5,690 square kilometers (2,200 square miles) in area—roughly the size of the state of Delaware—split off from the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica sometime between July 10 and July 12, 2017. The event drew wide public attention, occurring as it did in the context of international concern about global warming.

Glaciers are flowing masses of ice created by years of snowfall and locally cold temperatures. Approximately one tenth of the Earth is covered by glaciers, which are most numerous near the poles. Glaciers cover most of Antarctica and Greenland and parts of Iceland, Canada, Russia, and Alaska.

nvestigating the factors affecting ice melt in Greenland -- one of the most rapidly changing places on Earth -- is a major priority for climate scientists. And new research is revealing that there are a more complex set of variables affecting the ice sheet than experts had imagined. A recent set of scientific papers have proposed a critical connection between sharp declines in Arctic sea ice and changes in the atmosphere, which they say are not only affecting ice melt in Greenland, but also weather patterns all over the North Atlantic.

(Audio) Recent studies of the physics of ice sheets suggests that we may be vastly underestimating how fast the West Antarctic ice sheet is melting because of global warming. Penn State Climate Scientist Michael Mann tells host Steve Curwood that combined with the melting from other glaciers around the world, seas could rise over six feet by 2100, putting many coastal cities underwater

Antarctica's meltdown could spur sea level rise well beyond current predictions. New simulations suggest that Antarctic melting alone will raise global sea levels by about 64 to 114 centimeters by 2100, scientists report in the March 31 Nature.