Good Example Of Global Warming Is Eroding Glacial Ice: A Summary Essay

Scientists estimated that the glacier in Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa will vanish in less than 15 years—a sign of human induced global warming. Dr. Lonnie G. Thompson of Byrd Polar Research Center of Ohio State University contended that the mountain lost 82% of the ice cap since 1912. Prior to increased carbon dioxide concentration, it was natural changes that affect glaciers. However, the pace of change accelerates beyond the normal rate in recent centuries. Other reports attributed such changes to other factors. However, that glaciers eroding in various places could only be explained through global warming. It was also estimated that 90 percent of the volume of glaciers in the Swiss Alps will lose by 2025. But the glaciers in the Andes—in the tropics—exhibited the fastest rate of melting.
In the tropics, studies of air temperature showed a steady rise of about 15 feet a year in the altitude at which air routinely stays below the freezing point. Some changes may contribute to shrinking glaciers but the rising warm zone plays the biggest factor. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ascribed the accelerating loss of glaciers to global warming. Their reports showed that the phenomenon threatens the water supplies in Peru and Nepal.
In a 25 year study on the Peruvian glacier Qori Kalis, researchers showed that shrinking accelerated in the last three years. From 1998 to 2000, the glacier pulled back 508 feet a year—33 times faster than the rate in the first measurement period (i.e. from 1963 to 1978). Hydroelectric dams and reservoirs will be flush with water yet the source will run dry. Thus, the communities will have to turn to oil or coal for power. The tourism industry around Kilimanjaro and surrounding national park also expressed their concern about the decrease in visitors due to glacial loss.