Himalayan glaciers melting fast - 3 metres per month
Discussion
A BBC report on the news today states that Himilayan glaciers (largest body of ice outside the polar caps) are melting fast - 16 metres in less than 6 months.
Link below with video of the piece on todays news. It's a nicely acted little piece, with the reporter and expert standing where the ice was in May, but strangely it's not there anymore (don't mention summer melt). Then pictures of a poor villager standing by a tree "Evidence the climate is changing, there's been no crop in the apple orchard this year"!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8337207.stm
Link below with video of the piece on todays news. It's a nicely acted little piece, with the reporter and expert standing where the ice was in May, but strangely it's not there anymore (don't mention summer melt). Then pictures of a poor villager standing by a tree "Evidence the climate is changing, there's been no crop in the apple orchard this year"!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8337207.stm
deeps said:
Link below with video of the piece on todays news. It's a nicely acted little piece, with the reporter and expert standing where the ice was in May, but strangely it's not there anymore (don't mention summer melt). Then pictures of a poor villager standing by a tree "Evidence the climate is changing, there's been no crop in the apple orchard this year"!
Do apples need it hotter than glacial temperatures or colder, then? Melting implies it's warming up. Don't orchards prefer nice warm temperatures?
We should have a referendum on climate change.
The question should be: "Do you want the UK to gradually warm up over the next hundred years until it reaches a similar climate to the Cote D'Azur?"
Everyone who then votes yes gets issued a free Range Rover with the money that won't be spunked up the wall pretending to by King Canute trying to turn back nature.
The question should be: "Do you want the UK to gradually warm up over the next hundred years until it reaches a similar climate to the Cote D'Azur?"
Everyone who then votes yes gets issued a free Range Rover with the money that won't be spunked up the wall pretending to by King Canute trying to turn back nature.
OnTheOverrun said:
We should have a referendum on climate change.
The question should be: "Do you want the UK to gradually warm up over the next hundred years until it reaches a similar climate to the Cote D'Azur?"
Everyone who then votes yes gets issued a free Range Rover with the money that won't be spunked up the wall pretending to by King Canute trying to turn back nature.
Can't I have a Murcielago instead? The question should be: "Do you want the UK to gradually warm up over the next hundred years until it reaches a similar climate to the Cote D'Azur?"
Everyone who then votes yes gets issued a free Range Rover with the money that won't be spunked up the wall pretending to by King Canute trying to turn back nature.
Mmmm Cote D'Azur would be nice. I am shivering slightly and debating whether to put the CH on.
Edit: actually it isn't that "bad". I just looked on the BBC propaganda website. It states a rise on average of 5C by 2080. That's ages away.
Brrrr.Edited by ShadownINja on Monday 2nd November 19:00
Snips from a paper posted earlier today, with my emphases added.
1. Specifically:
Glacial surges
The speed of valley glaciers has been measured for a long time, and is rather variable. Sometimes a valley will flow several times faster than it did earlier. Suppose we had a period of a thousand years of heavy precipitation. This would cause a thickening of the ice, and more rapid glacial flow. The pulse of more rapid flow would eventually pass down the valley. It is important to understand that the increase in flow rate is not related to present day air temperature, but to increased precipitation long ago.
2. Generally:
A glacier budget
In general glaciers grow, flow and melt continuously. There is a budget of gains and losses. Snow falls on high ground. It becomes more and more compact with time, air is extruded, and it turns into solid ice. A few bubbles of air might be trapped, and may be used by scientists to examine the air composition at the time of deposition. More precipitation of snow forms another layer on the top, which goes through the same process, so the ice grows thicker by the addition of new layers at the surface. The existence of such layers, youngest at the top and oldest at the bottom, enables the glacial ice to be studied through time, as in the Vostok cores of Antarctica, a basic source of data on temperature and carbon dioxide over about 400,000 years. When the ice is thick enough it starts to flow under the force of gravity. Amountain glacier flows mainly downhill, but can flow uphill in places, as in the rotational flow that creates cup-shaped cirques. In an ice sheet the flow is from the depositional high centre towards the edges of the ice sheet. The flow of ice is generally slow, as expressed in the common metaphor "glacially slow", but the rate is variable. The Upernivek Glacier in Greenland flows at about 40 metres per day, which is as much as a smaller Alpine glacier covers in a year.
As usual, the mere headline is enough to get glands working overtime - sadly the brain is often excluded - in the overheated imperfect knowledge vacuum of the alarmosphere.
More here:
http://icecap.us/images/uploads/OllierPaine-NoIceS...
1. Specifically:
Glacial surges
The speed of valley glaciers has been measured for a long time, and is rather variable. Sometimes a valley will flow several times faster than it did earlier. Suppose we had a period of a thousand years of heavy precipitation. This would cause a thickening of the ice, and more rapid glacial flow. The pulse of more rapid flow would eventually pass down the valley. It is important to understand that the increase in flow rate is not related to present day air temperature, but to increased precipitation long ago.
2. Generally:
A glacier budget
In general glaciers grow, flow and melt continuously. There is a budget of gains and losses. Snow falls on high ground. It becomes more and more compact with time, air is extruded, and it turns into solid ice. A few bubbles of air might be trapped, and may be used by scientists to examine the air composition at the time of deposition. More precipitation of snow forms another layer on the top, which goes through the same process, so the ice grows thicker by the addition of new layers at the surface. The existence of such layers, youngest at the top and oldest at the bottom, enables the glacial ice to be studied through time, as in the Vostok cores of Antarctica, a basic source of data on temperature and carbon dioxide over about 400,000 years. When the ice is thick enough it starts to flow under the force of gravity. Amountain glacier flows mainly downhill, but can flow uphill in places, as in the rotational flow that creates cup-shaped cirques. In an ice sheet the flow is from the depositional high centre towards the edges of the ice sheet. The flow of ice is generally slow, as expressed in the common metaphor "glacially slow", but the rate is variable. The Upernivek Glacier in Greenland flows at about 40 metres per day, which is as much as a smaller Alpine glacier covers in a year.
As usual, the mere headline is enough to get glands working overtime - sadly the brain is often excluded - in the overheated imperfect knowledge vacuum of the alarmosphere.
More here:
http://icecap.us/images/uploads/OllierPaine-NoIceS...
A) who paid for this ( us ... )
B) Hiked for 2 days... for what !
C) The Himalayan glaciers are the largest body of ice outside the polar caps, and they "appear" to be under threat from global warming.
D) If the glaciers are melting.. Why is there no water downstream ?
E) If the glaciers melt this does not mean there will be less water as it will still rain the same???
Chris Morris from BBC News needs to be had up for misrepresentation and wasting BBC and tax payer funds.
turbobloke said:
The Upernivek Glacier in Greenland flows at about 40 metres per day
Surely that would make a scarier headline."Man made global Warming is responsible for a runaway glacier that is taking over the earth at incredible speeds, run for your lives!!!"
It's much better than " We predict warmer weather"
Amateurs..
kin rest!!
From the same source...again the emphasis is mine.
Glaciers and precipitation
We have seen that glaciers and ice sheets are in a state of quasiequilibrium, governed by rates of melting and rates of accumulation. For a glacier to maintain its present size it must have precipitation as snowfall at its source. This leads to a slightly complex relationship with temperature. If the regional climate becomes too dry there will be no precipitation, so the glacier will diminish. This could happen if the region became cold enough to reduce evaporation from the ocean. If temperatures rise, evaporation is enhanced and so therefore is snowfall. Paradoxically a regional rise of temperature may lead to increased growth of glaciers and ice sheets. Today, for example, the ice sheets of both Antarctica and Greenland are growing by accumulation of snow.
As often happens, the behaviour of natural systems is complex and counter-intuitive.
Glaciers and precipitation
We have seen that glaciers and ice sheets are in a state of quasiequilibrium, governed by rates of melting and rates of accumulation. For a glacier to maintain its present size it must have precipitation as snowfall at its source. This leads to a slightly complex relationship with temperature. If the regional climate becomes too dry there will be no precipitation, so the glacier will diminish. This could happen if the region became cold enough to reduce evaporation from the ocean. If temperatures rise, evaporation is enhanced and so therefore is snowfall. Paradoxically a regional rise of temperature may lead to increased growth of glaciers and ice sheets. Today, for example, the ice sheets of both Antarctica and Greenland are growing by accumulation of snow.
As often happens, the behaviour of natural systems is complex and counter-intuitive.
Hedders said:
turbobloke said:
The Upernivek Glacier in Greenland flows at about 40 metres per day
Surely that would make a scarier headline."Man made global Warming is responsible for a runaway glacier that is taking over the earth at incredible speeds, run for your lives!!!"
It's much better than " We predict warmer weather"
Amateurs..
My thoughts entirely. Pathetic effort
I spent the entire time that that piece of "news" was on, smacking my head against the wall.
So the whole thing was based on the fact that the glacier has moved in 6 months? Who the f**k thought that newsworthy? I also liked the fact that it made alluded that the Ganges would dry up because of one glacier.........
Either the way it was presented was awful, or the science behind this latest "scare" is so appalling that only an utter imbecile would buy into it.
So the whole thing was based on the fact that the glacier has moved in 6 months? Who the f**k thought that newsworthy? I also liked the fact that it made alluded that the Ganges would dry up because of one glacier.........
Either the way it was presented was awful, or the science behind this latest "scare" is so appalling that only an utter imbecile would buy into it.
My ten peneth for what it's worth, tis all just another excuse for uncle Gordon and his buddys to extort more cash from us poor down trodden workers! I vote that everyone with petrol in there veins gets on and burns as much as possible over the winter then i can enjoy my Lotus next summer! S.N.A.F.U!
Note to self, must finish my quad rotor engine for next summer 
col190 said:
My ten peneth for what it's worth, tis all just another excuse for uncle Gordon and his buddys to extort more cash from us poor down trodden workers! I vote that everyone with petrol in there veins gets on and burns as much as possible over the winter then i can enjoy my Lotus next summer! S.N.A.F.U!
bakerjuk said:
A) who paid for this ( us ... )
B) Hiked for 2 days... for what !
C) The Himalayan glaciers are the largest body of ice outside the polar caps, and they "appear" to be under threat from global warming.
D) If the glaciers are melting.. Why is there no water downstream ?
E) If the glaciers melt this does not mean there will be less water as it will still rain the same???
Hehe, don't forget the Apple trees, they haven't born much fruit ever I would guess, judging by the sandy soil they're growing in, although they did have green leaves so they weren't altogether dead.B) Hiked for 2 days... for what !
C) The Himalayan glaciers are the largest body of ice outside the polar caps, and they "appear" to be under threat from global warming.
D) If the glaciers are melting.. Why is there no water downstream ?
E) If the glaciers melt this does not mean there will be less water as it will still rain the same???
What a pathetic piece of junk journalism though, all at our expense as you say.
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