Bronze fish with snake eyebrows. Snakehead is an unusual predator fish with interesting habits.
Antarctica is the least studied continent located in the south of the globe. Most of its surface is ice cover, up to 4.8 km thick. The Antarctic ice sheet contains 90% (!) of all the ice on our planet. It is so heavy that the continent beneath it has sunk almost 500 m. Today the world is seeing the first signs global warming in Antarctica: large glaciers are destroyed, new lakes appear, and the soil loses its ice cover. Let's simulate the situation of what will happen if Antarctica loses its ice.
How will Antarctica itself change?
Today the area of Antarctica is 14,107,000 km². If the glaciers melt, these numbers will be reduced by a third. The mainland will become almost unrecognizable. Under the ice there are numerous mountain ranges and massifs. The western part will definitely become an archipelago, and the eastern part will remain a continent, although given the rise of ocean waters, it will not retain this status for long.
This is what Antarctica will look like. The current territory is outlined On at the moment on the Antarctic Peninsula, islands and coastal oases there are many representatives flora: flowers, ferns, lichens, algae, and lately their diversity is gradually increasing. There are fungi and some bacteria there, and the coasts are occupied by seals and penguins. Already now, on the same Antarctic Peninsula, the appearance of tundra is observed, and scientists are confident that with warming there will be both trees and new ones.
By the way, Antarctica holds several records: the lowest recorded temperature on Earth is 89.2 degrees below zero; the largest crater on Earth is located there; the strongest and longest winds.
Today there is no permanent population on the territory of Antarctica. Only employees of scientific stations are there, and sometimes tourists visit it. With climate change, former cold continent may be suitable for permanent residence human, but now it is difficult to talk about this with confidence - everything will depend on the current climatic situation.
How will the world change due to melting glaciers?
Rising water levels in the world's oceans
So, scientists have calculated that after the ice cover melts, The level of the world's oceans will rise by almost 60 meters. And this is a lot and will be equated to global catastrophe. The coastline will shift significantly, and today's coastal zone of the continents will be under water.
A great flood awaits many paradises our planet If we speak, then its central part will not suffer much. In particular, Moscow is located 130 meters above the current sea level, so the flood will not reach it. Such people will go under water major cities, like Astrakhan, Arkhangelsk, St. Petersburg, Novgorod and Makhachkala. Crimea will turn into an island - only its mountainous part will rise above the sea. And in Krasnodar region Only Novorossiysk, Anapa and Sochi will be flooded. Siberia and the Urals will not be subject to too much flooding - mainly coastal residents will have to be resettled settlements.
The Black Sea will grow - in addition to the northern part of Crimea and Odessa, Istanbul will also be taken over. Signed cities that will be under water The Baltic states, Denmark and Holland will almost completely disappear. In general these European cities how London, Rome, Venice, Amsterdam and Copenhagen will go under water along with everything cultural heritage, so while you have time, be sure to visit them and take photos on Instagram, because your grandchildren will most likely not be able to do this.
The Americans will also have a hard time, who will definitely be left without Washington, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles and many more large coastal cities.
What will happen to North America? Signed cities that will be under water Climate
The climate will already undergo unpleasant changes that will lead to the melting of the ice sheet. According to ecologists, the ice of Antarctica, Antarctica and those located on mountain peaks, help maintain the temperature balance on the planet, cooling its atmosphere. Without them, this balance will be disrupted.
Receipt of large quantities fresh water into the world's oceans will certainly affect direction of large ocean currents , which largely determine climatic conditions in many regions. So it is not yet possible to say with certainty what will happen to our weather.
Quantity natural disasters will increase significantly. Hurricanes, typhoons and tornadoes will claim thousands of lives. Paradoxically, as a result of global warming, some countries will begin to experience lack of fresh water. And not only because arid climate. The fact is that snow deposits in the mountains provide water to vast areas, and after it melts there will no longer be such a benefit.
Economy
All this will greatly affect the economy, even if the flooding process is gradual. Take the USA and China for example! Like it or not, these countries greatly influence economic situation all over the world. In addition to the problem of relocating tens of millions of people and the loss of their capital, the states will lose almost a quarter production capacity, which will ultimately hit the global economy. And China will be forced to say goodbye to its huge trading ports, which will reduce the supply of products to the world market significantly.
How are things today?
Some scientists reassure us that the observed melting of glaciers is normal, because... somewhere they disappear, and somewhere they are formed, and thus balance is maintained. Others note that there are still reasons for concern, and provide convincing evidence.
Not long ago, British scientists analyzed 50 million satellite images Antarctic ice sheets and concluded that they melting occurs very quickly. In particular, the giant Totten glacier, comparable in size to the territory of France, is causing concern. Researchers noticed that it is washed away by warm salt waters, accelerating its decay. According to forecasts, this glacier can raise the level of the World Ocean by as much as 2 meters. It is assumed that the Larsen B glacier will collapse by 2020. And he, by the way, is as much as 12,000 years old.
According to the BBC, Antarctica loses as much as 160 billion tons of ice per year. Moreover, this figure is growing rapidly. Scientists say they did not expect such a rapid melting of the southern ice.
By the way, the name “Antarctica” means “opposite the Arctic” or “opposite the north.”
The most unpleasant thing is that the process of melting glaciers further influences the increase in the greenhouse effect. The fact is that the ice covers of our planet reflect part of sunlight. Without this, heat will be retained in the Earth's atmosphere in large volumes, thereby increasing average temperature. And the growing area of the World Ocean, whose waters collect heat, will only worsen the situation. Besides large number Melt water also has a detrimental effect on glaciers. Thus, ice reserves not only in Antarctica, but throughout to the globe, melt faster and faster, which ultimately threatens big problems.
The ice sheet covers about 80% of Greenland. IN summer period the edge of the shield melts. IN recent years melting has increased due to global warming. If previously the ice that melted in the summer was restored, now the glacier is gradually shrinking (it decreased by 1,500 gigatons between 2000 and 2008), and some melt lakes on the glacier do not freeze even in winter.
The glaciation of Greenland occurred approximately 4 million years ago.
There are several theories explaining why the island, which, according to many scientists, had rich vegetation, was covered with a shell of ice. This could have happened due to changes in ocean currents, increased altitude Rocky Mountains in North America, shifts in the Earth's orbit or a drop in carbon dioxide concentrations.
According to the latest research climatologists from the universities of Bristol and Leeds, the main reason for the glaciation of Greenland was a sharp decrease in carbon dioxide, or carbon dioxide, in the upper atmosphere.
> Unusually thin earth's crust beneath Greenland's surface partly explains the abnormally high rate of melting of its ice cap, as hot magmatic masses beneath its surface act as one giant "boiler", climatologists say in a paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience. “The temperature at the foot of the glaciers, and accordingly, their condition, simultaneously depends on the flow of heat from the bowels of the Earth and temperature fluctuations on their surface. Due to this, there are areas in Greenland where the foot of the glaciers is melting and which are located next to completely untouched and cold ice," said Irina Rogozhina from the Helmholtz Center in Potsdam (Germany). 
Rogozhina and her colleagues, including Russian geophysicists from the geophysical institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow and Novosibirsk, using a special climate model, discovered that the rapid melting of Greenland's ice was associated with unusually thin crust on its territory. As the authors of the article note, the heat generated in the bowels of the Earth and arriving on its surface has almost no effect on the climate, since it is much weaker than thermal energy, arriving along with the rays of the Sun. On the other hand, under a multi-meter layer of ice the situation changes, and this heat begins to play a significant role in the temperature balance and the condition of the glacier. Guided by this idea, climatologists built a model of the Greenland glaciers, which took into account the action of both the rays of the Sun and the bowels of the Earth, and tested it in practice. 
Despite the fact that Greenland is located on an ancient tectonic platform, the earth's crust on its territory, judging by the observations of seismologists, is unusually thin, reaching only a quarter of the expected thickness in some points, and about 60-66% in other areas. According to the researchers, adding this feature of the island's interior to the model significantly improved its predictions, which actually demonstrates that this underground "boiler" is indeed accelerating the melting of the Greenland ice cap.
A team of biologists from the University of Buffalo (USA), led by Dr. Beata Xato, found that all the mathematical models of the melting of Greenland ice that have been created so far were overly optimistic: this threatening process is actually going faster. About the study, the full results of which are published in the latest issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), says site (e) ScienceNews. Greenland is the second largest glacial mass on Earth, after Antarctica. If all the ice on it melts, the level of the world's oceans will rise by an average of 6 m, which threatens disasters for residents of the coastal regions of many countries. It is not surprising that scientists have already for a long time are studying the melting of Greenland ice and building models that should make it possible to predict its dynamics. Scientists from the University at Buffalo showed that until now all these models were simplified and gave too optimistic estimates. To do this, Dr. Xato and his colleagues analyzed a large array of data obtained, firstly, from the NASA ICESat satellite, created and launched into orbit just for these purposes, and, secondly, from field research in Greenland, carried out as part of the Operation IceBridge project. In general, data from 100 thousand locations was analyzed for the period from 1993 to 2012.
An analysis of such extensive and complete information showed that Greenland's glaciers behave in a more complex manner than previously thought. While some of them are steadily melting, the thickness of others, on the contrary, is increasing. And still others even “pulsate.” All this depends on a complex combination of factors - local climatic and hydrological conditions, the shape of the glacier, hydrology, and so on. In total, geologists from the University at Buffalo counted over 240 glaciers in Greenland with a width of 1.5 km or more, and divided them, according to their behavior, into 7 groups. It was a detailed approach. If we take the whole picture, it turned out that in fact, from 2003 to 2009 (for this period there is the most complete data), the Greenland ice sheet lost 243 gigatons of ice, which annually led to an increase in sea levels by 0.68 millimeters . This is more than scientists have thought until now.
The authors of the study hope that their results will now allow them to build more accurate models of the melting of Greenland's ice. “Our division of glaciers into groups will help us select the most representative samples from them, and based on their parameters, create models of what is happening that are closer to reality,” said Dr. Xato. The results of another study conducted by scientists from the University of Leeds (UK) will certainly help complete the picture. They studied the influence of lakes that form on the surface of the glacier on the melting of Greenland's glaciers. The results are described in an article in the journal Nature Climate Change. At the same time, data from satellites was also used, only now on NASA, and belonging to the European Space Agency (ESA).
It turned out that migrating glacial lakes are now grouped along the coast of Greenland, forming a “belt” about 100 kilometers wide. Being darker than the ice around them, they absorb sun rays and thereby increase the temperature around them - as a result, the ice melts along the line of lakes and pieces of the glacier break off and float into the ocean. So far, this process is proceeding extremely slowly, but by 2060, the area of such lakes, according to scientists, will double, and then they will make a significant contribution to the reduction in the area of Greenland ice. Let us note that 2014 gave us another reason to worry about the ice of Greenland. A new temperature record was recorded there in June.
A canyon created by meltwater flow.
Have you ever wondered what would happen if all the glaciers on our planet melted? We will have to say goodbye to many cities and even megacities, as entire islands and parts of continents will be flooded. These large-scale disasters will not pass without a trace and will leave their mark on the map of the Earth, which will undergo significant changes.
The cities marked on the map are the failed cities, since they were the ones who fell into the flood zone. Most affected east coast mainland. Humanity will forever have to say goodbye to its beloved megacities.
Hurry to London and Venice, otherwise after the ice melts they will become just a memory. Holland and part of Denmark will also disappear from the face of the world. The Caspian Sea will double in volume, and the Black Sea will attack Odessa and Istanbul.
China said goodbye to a small part of its territory. The changes also affected the coastal lands of India. All that was left of Cambodia were the “horns” - the Cardamom Mountains turned into islands.
What will the melting of glaciers lead to?
Candidate geographical sciences Academician Nikolai Zhavrin predicts that as a result of the melting of the glacier, lithospheric plates will shift, bending under the weight of the ice. If the glacier melts, the earth's crust under the Greenland glacier will rise by about 1 km.
The tight fit between the North American and Eurasian plates will be broken and a fault will form. Huge masses of water will rush there, reaching the upper part of the earth's mantle. There will be an explosion of cosmic, cyclopean power - it’s like splashing on a giant hot frying pan. cold water. A huge explosion 20 km away will raise a mass of volcanic ash into the planet’s stratosphere, and the evaporated water will rain down on the Earth like biblical rain...
But this is not all the troubles that will instantly hit the Earth. Giant supertsunamis will wipe out thousands of kilometers from the face of the planet and deal a fatal blow to our civilization. In Russia alone, up to 100 million people could die. Nikolai Zhavrin predicts that a monstrous supertsunami “will affect all of Russia. All, from edge to edge. But, of course, not to the same extent as, say, Great Britain, which will be washed away and destroyed to smithereens. AND most North America, and most Western Europe“Everything there will be destroyed.”
Academician Zhavrin is confident that such a development of events is almost inevitable. True, it is not impossible to calculate when this will happen, in 2 years or 40 years. The time remaining until the X-hour must be used to save people.
Due to the current situation in Greenland emergency the scientist sounds the alarm, drawing the attention of the public, scientists and authorities to the need to take measures to evacuate people from problem regions.
The problem of melting glaciers in the Arctic
Today, the rate of melting of the Arctic Ocean is quite high level. The dramatic transformation of such a fragile environment puts rare species of animals at risk, such as polar bear. Because sea ice is melting at a frantic pace, all kinds of new routes are opening up for ships, for which all sorts of people have been fighting for a long time naval forces and the largest corporations.
Local population and environment, obviously, will not derive any benefit, which cannot be said about the new economic drivers of the Arctic, who will obviously “pull out” all possible minerals and other resources
Geopolitical relations between the eight circumpolar countries are under discussion. The issue of dividing the Arctic is very acute, because in order to come to an agreement, you need to get a positive response from all countries that have their own “piece of the Arctic.” China and Korea, north of the Arctic Circle, also hope to have influence in this matter.
As circumpolar militaries become increasingly active, the ability to operate safely in the Arctic is rapidly declining. This is evidenced by the example of the US Navy, which recently carried out a complex war game. Which subsequently demonstrated that the fleet is completely unsuited to the polar environment.
Last year, eight circumpolar countries signed an agreement committing to cooperate in finding solutions to preserve their unique environment.
It should be noted that the presence of a Navy is not the worst thing that can happen in the Arctic. Let me remind the reader once again that the Arctic is a huge treasure trove of oil and gas, which is claimed by all nearby countries, and none of them will miss their chance to fully immerse themselves in the extraction of this valuable raw material. Well, this is already a political economic aspect. As for the military exercises that periodically take place in the Arctic, this natural behavior countries wishing to benefit is a reminder of themselves and a demonstration of their possible superiority and power.
Arctic " big game"is just unfolding, and all that is available to us now is to observe from the outside the events taking place in it. Will she be saved unique environment or whether bloodthirsty nearby countries will share its resources - time will tell.
Scientists explain the anomalous melting of Greenland's glaciers
International group geophysicists, including a specialist from Novosibirsk, found an explanation for the anomalous melting ice shell in the center of Greenland.
Glaciers on Everest could be almost completely melted by 2100. The report explains that ice melt is only occurring in a narrow coastal area of Greenland, but radar measurements taken in 2001 showed that even under central part Islands between the ice and bedrock there is a layer of melt water, which forms huge lakes and subglacial rivers. Theoretical estimates showed that the heat emanating from the bowels of the Earth on the surface of the lithosphere continental type cannot produce temperatures sufficient to melt ice.
Scientists have linked the decrease in the mass of the ice shell today with events 8035 million years ago, the passage of Greenland over an ancient mantle plume, the report says.
Climate change has delayed ice age for 100 thousand years. According to some estimates, the Icelandic plume is very ancient and may be about 250 million years old. Thanks to the movement of lithospheric plates, Iceland is now located above it, and volcanic activity in this country is directly related to its location. However, millions of years ago, Greenland floated above the plume, scientists note.
Greenland was a strong continental plate with a lithospheric thickness of about 200 kilometers, which insulated the upper crust from heat from the mantle depths. Under the influence of the Icelandic plume, an area appeared where the thickness of the lithosphere was less than 100 kilometers. An anomalous heat flow has formed in this part, the existence of which is confirmed by other data and explains the observed melting and movement of ice, the words of one of the co-authors of the article, head of the laboratories of NSU and the Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics SB RAS Ivan Kulakov, are quoted in the message.
The scientist noted that a study by employees of the Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Irina Rogozhina and Alexey Petrunin, provided geophysical evidence that the decrease in the mass of Greenland glaciers is influenced not only by rapid climate variations on Earth, but also by echoes of large-scale events in the deep mantle that occurred tens of millions of years back.
Melting glaciers could change the Earth's axis
Experts from the NASA space agency have found that global warming and melting glaciers can affect the rotation of the Earth around its own axis. As a result, the angle of inclination of our planet may change.
Scientists in the process of studying this issue came to the conclusion that due to the melting of polar ice caps, the weight of the Earth may be redistributed, which will change the inclination of our planet relative to its axis of rotation. NASA employees established this fact after carrying out the necessary measurements, comparing the magnetic pole and studying polar movement.
In this direction scientific work has been carried out since 1899. At the moment, the North Magnetic Pole is moving towards Great Britain, and in the last century minor shifts towards Canada were recorded. According to scientists, such displacements do not pose a danger to the world's population.
Sources: naked-science.ru, the-day-x.ru, lifeglobe.net, ifvremya.ru, kvedomosti.com
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90% of the planet's entire ice cover is concentrated. Under the weight of glacial masses, the continent is constantly subsiding. Today, the total area of the ice sheet is more than 14 million square meters. km.
IN last decades Serious changes began to occur with glaciers:
- large glaciers are melting and collapsing;
- glacial lakes are formed;
- Glacier areas are decreasing.
Note 1
If this trend continues, in a few years the area of glaciers may be reduced by a third.
It is possible to prevent the irreversible consequences caused by the melting glaciers of Antarctica, the Arctic, Greenland and other regions only by coordinating the global efforts of all countries.
To protect glaciers from exposure high temperatures scientists propose: installing special shutters on the surfaces of glaciers, placing special protective mirrors in the planet’s orbit, growing plants that effectively absorb carbon dioxide.
Causes of melting glaciers
The main reason for the melting of glaciers is adverse anthropogenic impact. Enormous volumes of thermal exhaust, cutting down forest areas, air, water and soil pollution - all this leads to an increase in the greenhouse effect.
Scientists have proven that:
- Antarctica, if the current rate of glacier melting continues, will be completely ice-free in 20-30 years.
- The area of glaciers is changing towards a decrease all over the world - in Greenland, the Himalayas, and the Alps. Over the past 10 years alone, the area of glaciers in Switzerland has decreased by 12%.
- As a result of the melting of Greenland's glaciers, the region loses about billions of tons annually continental ice(according to NASA).
- As a result of the melting of glaciers, the level of the World Ocean rises by 0.4 mm annually.
- The melting of glaciers increases the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere, which increases the greenhouse effect, which in turn provokes the melting of glaciers - a kind of vicious circle.
Consequences of melting glaciers
Melting glaciers are a global problem and they have consequences. global scale for the whole planet.
It is expected that ecological situation will change even more and not in better side. Changes can be expected in geological terms, in flora and fauna, in significant changes in the level of the World Ocean, and in some medical issues.
The main consequences of melting glaciers:
- The level of the World Ocean may rise by 60 meters. The coastal zone of the continents will be under water, coastlines will move. Cities such as Astrakhan, Arkhangelsk, St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Riga, London, Rome, Dublin, Stockholm, Amsterdam, etc. may be completely flooded. Dozens of cities will disappear in the east and west of North America, including Washington, Los -Angeles, New York.
- The climate on the entire planet will change significantly. The greenhouse effect will intensify, the level of fresh water entering the World Ocean will increase, and the directions of the main large currents that ensure climatic conditions will change.
- Global climate change will cause the spread of epidemics. A number of diseases characteristic only of Central Africa and Asia will spread to other continents.
- The number of natural disasters will increase sharply. Tsunamis, hurricanes, and floods will be present in all areas of the earth. There will be a shortage of fresh water. Strong changes in climate will trigger floods and droughts, which will affect agriculture and providing humanity with food.
Major melting glaciers
Thwaites Glacier is one of the main glaciers of Antarctica, lying in its western part. Feature glacier – fast movement and melting. The speed of movement of the glacier's surface is more than 2 km/year. Ice losses amount to up to 160 billion tons annually, and this figure continues to increase. Thwaites Glacier and Pine Island Glacier are part of the "weak underbelly" of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
The melting of the Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers slowed in colder years. But in years with relatively warm weather their melting increased several times. Sharp increase The melting of the Pine Island Glacier has been observed since the end of the 20th century. Scientists have calculated that if Pine Island completely releases its icebergs into the Amundsen Sea, the level of the World Ocean will rise by 45 cm.
The Thwaites Glacier is melting somewhat more slowly. Researchers are convinced that in the near future the melting of glaciers will only intensify, since glaciers react sharply to any changes in climatic conditions.
The largest melting glaciers in Alaska: Mendenhall, Hubbard, Valerie.
The Mendenhall Glacier is located in southeastern Alaska. Its length is about 19 km. The glacier is part of national forest Tongass.
Hubbard is the largest valley tree glacier on the Alaskan coast. It originates in the Yukon Territory (Canada) on Mount Logan and stretches to Yakutat and Disappointment Bays. The length of the glacier is 122 km, height – 120 meters. The age of the ice is about 400 years. Since the end of the 19th century, the glacier has been moving forward by 17-18 meters.
Before the sea, Hubbard joins the Valery Glacier heading from the west. The Valerie Glacier significantly increases the volume of ice that reaches the bays and threatens to completely block them in the foreseeable future. In the summer, the Valerie and Hubbard glaciers melt, and huge masses of icebergs break off from them.
The largest glacier in Greenland is the Greenland Ice Sheet (the second largest in the world after the Antarctic Ice Sheet). Total area The Greenland ice sheet is 1.833900 million square meters. km. It occupies about 80% of the entire territory of Greenland. The length of the glacier from north to south is 2530 km, the average thickness of the ice is 1.5 km (the greatest thickness is 3 km).
The Greenland Ice Sheet is located in the center of the island of Greenland, separated from the sea by a narrow strip of land, and in some places it is almost on the coast. The coast of the island is heavily indented by long and deep fjords that reach the edges of the ice sheet. There are smaller glaciers and ice caps off the coast. Beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet there is a large canyon 750 km long.
The Greenland ice sheet has noticeably decreased due to warming and continues to decrease. The volume of the glacier is 2.85 million cubic meters. km. When the glacier melts, the level of the World Ocean will rise by more than 7 meters. It is estimated that with an increase in average temperatures of 3 ºС, the shield could completely melt over a period of about 1000 years.
It seems to me that glaciers are alive. They look like wild animals. Previously people they were afraid of them like wolves - the only difference was that one glacier could immediately devour an entire village. TO end of the 19th century century everything has changed: residents northern countries came up with the idea of using glaciers as a tourist attraction. For example, in Switzerland it was possible to go to the middle of the Rhone Glacier through a tunnel (it was cut down every summer!), the entrance to which was located a stone's throw from the Belvedere Hotel. Perhaps very soon the glaciers will disappear altogether - they will “die out”, like many animals. But for now they are here – alive. They are breathing. At the top of the glacier, the snow compacts, turning into ice; at the bottom, on the contrary, the ice melts. “The glacier inhales in winter and exhales in summer,” says Matthias Huss, a glaciologist at the University of Freiburg in Switzerland. In August, he said, the Rhone River gets a quarter of its water from melting glaciers.
Perhaps very soon the glaciers will disappear altogether - they will “die out”, like many animals. But for now they are here – alive.They are moving.“If a glacier isn't moving, then it's standing ice, not a glacier,” explains Dan Fagr, pointing to white stripe on the horizon in national park Glacier (Montana, USA). Dan is an environmentalist specializing in global warming who has worked at the park for two decades. There are now 25 active glaciers in Glacier Park, but a century ago there were six times as many - 150. Many of them disappeared even before scientists could map the glaciers. The fact that they were once here is proven by the moraines they left behind - piles of boulders and rubble, that is, unsorted debris rocks, which were plowed by moving blocks of ice. They rule nature. 20 thousand years ago, Switzerland was a sea of ice, above which the peaks of the Alps rose in islands. The remaining glaciers grew slightly in the 19th century, at the end of the so-called Little Ice Age. Photographs from 1849 show that the border of the Rhone Glacier at that time was 500 meters lower than it is now. It was during the Little Ice Age that Swiss scientists managed to collect data about other – past – ice ages. Only then, in the 19th century, did we learn that the Earth’s climate periodically changes greatly. And if humanity had not interfered with natural processes Having built factories and cars, a new ice age would await us in one or two millennia. Now the threat is exactly the opposite. They are fighting. Glaciers always strive for equilibrium—they maintain a height and mass such that the amount of snow falling on top of the glacier equals the amount of ice melting below. “They are trying to adapt, but it is not easy,” explains Matthias Huss. Weather conditions They are different everywhere, so there are still glaciers on Earth that are advancing. But there are very few such persistent ones: in the Alps, for example, not a single one. Half of the local ice melted in the last century - enough water to fill all Swiss lakes. Huss predicts that 80 to 90 percent of Alpine glaciers will disappear by 2100. The Rhone glacier has retreated into the mountains and is now not visible from the valley. Today it ends directly above the Belvedere Hotel, and in the summer you can still walk through the tunnel dug through it. To see the glacier in winter, when the road to the hotel is closed, you will have to climb the mountain. “Of course, Glacier Park would be beautiful without glaciers,” notes Dan Fagr. “And in Switzerland too,” Huss continues, but adds: “Although it personally pains me to watch how these huge and beautiful animals gradually fade away, lose weight and die.”
