http://www.seattlepi.com/local/science/article/Why-this-photo-of-glacial-rivers-under-a-rare-10970133.php
Why this photo of glacial rivers under a rare, clear sky is scary
Published 9:02 pm, Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Sure, it's less popular to say so now, but the world is getting hot hot hot and weird. We could list the evidence here and here, for starters. However, this picture tells a thousand scary stories.
In the satellite photo above, taken by the NASA Earth Observatory, you can easily see one of those stories: The retreating glaciers of the South Georgia Islands (click to the second slide to see the progress).
"The image above, a closer crop of a Landsat scene, shows Neumayer Glacier. In the past 16 years, Neumayer has retreated more than 4 kilometers (2.5 miles). Like other large glaciers on the island, Neumayer is a tidewater glacier—that is, it flows down into the ocean. Roughly 30 kilometers (20 miles) to the southeast of Neumayer, on the same side of the island, Hindle Glacier has also retreated markedly since 2000—more than 3 kilometers (2 miles). Like Neumayer, Hindle used to merge with another glacier (Ross)," the space agency wrote on Friday.
You can zoom in on the scene of the crime in this version of the photo:
While public discussion of what to do about climate change is being drowned out by the clarion call of denial (here and here, for instance), groups that work on the island know they are among the canaries in the coal mines.
The South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute says of the glaciers it knows:
While the volume of ice on South Georgia poses little threat compared to the ice stored on Antarctica or even Greenland, glaciers around South Georgia do offer the opportunity to observe and understand the processes that are involved in glacier response to climate forcing, especially tidewater glaciers. The accessibility of a large numbers of tidewater glaciers, subject to warming conditions, provides a unique opportunity to observe processes and enable more accurate predictions of sea level response to ocean warming around Antarctica.
And on Wednesday, March 1, the World Meteorological Organization (of UN fame) said ... "The highest temperature for the "Antarctic continent" defined as the main continental landmass and adjoining islands is the temperature extreme of 17.5°C (63.5°F) recorded on 24 March 2015 at the Argentine Research Base Esperanza located near the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula."
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Scientists at the Earth Observatory add:
The retreating ice on South Georgia Island could have a significant impact on the island's animals. Glaciers act like barriers, preventing the spread of certain animals such as the non-native rats that have become a threat to other species in the area. Rat populations have boomed on the north side of the island as the ice has ebbed, while colonies of seabirds like pipits and small burrowing petrels have declined in number in that area—likely due to predation of eggs and chicks. As glaciers in the center of the island shrink, the rats could spread to the south and decimate bird populations.
Jake Ellison can be reached at jakeellisonjournalism@gmail.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/Jake_News. Also, swing by and *LIKE* his page on Facebook. If Google Plus is your thing, check out our science coverage here.
