Equator's glaciers slipping away

[Ripley]

Equator's glaciers slipping away
POSTED: 11:31 a.m. EST, December 18, 2006

Story Highlights
• Africa's 3 highest peaks to loose all ice sometime in the next 2 to 5 decades
• Almost every one of more than 300 large glaciers studied worldwide is in retreat
• Environmentalist: Glacier loss will gravely impact people, wildlife

NARO MORU, Kenya (AP) -- Rivers of ice at the Equator -- foretold in the 2nd century, found in the 19th -- are now melting away in this new century, returning to the realm of lore and fading photographs.

From mile-high Naro Moru, villagers have watched year by year as the great glaciers of Mount Kenya, glinting in the equatorial sun high above them, have retreated into shrunken white stains on the rocky shoulders of the 16,897-foot peak.

~~~

He worries that the water loss may unravel a unique ecosystem that surrounds him -- of high-altitude trees and bamboo groves, blue monkeys and giant forest hogs. "The lobelia trees might die," he said.

Animals are already dying in the foothills and plains below.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/12/18/african.glaciers.ap/index.html

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. where are the proofreaders!!???

Loose? aaagggghhhhh!

[Ripley]

2. Really.

It's not like journalists would have access to spellcheck, or anything.

This site shows before and after pics of glaciers melting. This is huge how fast they are going, but I guess it won't raise an alarm bell until NYC and Miami are underwater. Sigh.

http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/imagegallery/igviewer.php?imgid=626&gid=42&index=0

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. I've considered perpetrating such a crisis

As a subject of a novel, that is.

(Pause for collective sigh of relief.)

A volcano erupts in Antarctica. Nothing big, just a lot of smoke and ash. The heat, of course, starts to melt ice but the big problem is the ash plume, covering thousands of square miles of glacier with dark gray particulate matter that traps and holds solar heat. This greatly increases the documented melt of the ice sheet, doing in about five years what current predictions say is likely in 150 years.

Or maybe a missile explodes over or onto Antarctica. (Accidentally? Deliberately?) This cracks off one of the continental ice sheets and spreading dark debris over a large area, leading to the same situation.

When New York City and Miami -- and the Netherlands, Bangladesh, most of England, a third of California and much of Florida and Louisiana -- really are under water... I think people will start to notice.

[Ripley]

5. Yes, many small island-nations will go first..

The low-lying South Pacific islands and some off the coast of India, in particular.

Interesting storyline - good luck!

I hate that we will lose all of the beautiful blue ice..

[AliceWonderland]

7. Thanks for posting that link.

I've seen the before and after pictures before, but not that many in a series. This should be a top story everywhere.

[Tellurian]

3. They're too busy looking for a dropped pronoun..

the environmentalists are reporting on the disappearing glaciers.

[DixieBlue]

6. What awful things we have done to our planet ...

How people can see all of this awful environmental news ... the extinction of the dolphin in China, the melting glaciers ... and not see that our planet's a very sick place is an idiot. I'm not sure we can do anything to heal it at this point, either. Which is the truly sad, sick, upsetting thing about all of this.