Glacier Retreat - A Real Problem

It is important to make sure that all readers are on the same page with regards to the simple question of whether or not glaciers around the world are melting or not. The extreme view might be that glaciers around the world are growing. More likely though, is that people don’t realize the extent of the problem. How wide spread it is and how big the impacts are going to be for the world. In order to show the problem we are facing I looked at some of the publications made by the World Glacial Monitoring Service (WGMS). The Graphs and tables ought to show how large the issue is.

The first set of graphs show the mass balance and what has happened to it over the years. The general trend seems to be a negative; meaning that there is more ablation than accumulation. The graphs below are taken from the 2009 report.

 I have selected glaciers from different parts of the world to illustrate the trends in different parts of the world. Clearly the glaciers all around the world are retreating and it is not just in one place. The Graph below shows the overall mass balance since 1947, the general decreasing trend is again worrying and again from the 2009 report.

Looking at the above graph shows the mass balance decrease well, but combined with the table below ought to prove the scale of the problem.

 My View

It is fairly obvious that the majority of the glaciers around the world are retreating and it is this retreat that will cause problems for humans around the world. There will be implications on local, national and regional scales. Being prepared for the effects will be something that humans will have to do in the future, how they do this will likely vary.