Towards an Iceless Earth

Published by Jommer Medina
February 27, 2009, Category: Earth Sciences

A conceptual essay on glacier retreat.

Have you ever imagined yourself spending your winter break in the beach resort or a privately owned swimming pool? Now suppose winter is not as cold a cold season, rather a scorching hot one just like summer. Do you see yourself now spending your winter by swimming in the cold salty water of the sea or the blue chlorinated pool water instead of sitting on a couch near a fireplace while sipping hot tea or milk or coffee? It may sound silly for now but considering the present situation of the global climate, it can become as probable as getting a perfect score in an examination.

The Earth is losing its “coolness”. To some the statement is vague; to others it does not make any sense at all; but to scientists and scholars, it is but literal, hence a fact. Many scientists have spent some grueling portion of their lives studying the condition of the Earth’s climate and the stunning result of their studies: the ice on Earth is melting, and for all of these the suspects are none other than global warming and the worsening climate change.

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Findings about the melting of ice in the Polar Regions have been presented to the public for several times already. And as the media exposes the same topic over again, the scenario gets even worse than before and so is the news. In spite of this many still remain oblivious to situation perhaps thinking that as long as there is ice, the planet is fine. Or even so, they hardly understand what the scientific community has been addressing the people for the point of argument is not just scientific but technical and complicated as well.

In a sense the melting of ice in the Poles, scientifically termed as glacier retreat, may be considered to be part of nature as the ice that melts during summers reforms during the winters. However foe the past decades the recession of glaciers have become more apparent and rapid as studies suggest. How is this possible? It is best to start first with the mechanism of glacier retreat. Snowfall sustains the growth of glaciers while melting and run off caused by breaking off of icebergs cause the glaciers to decrease in size. To remain in constant size, a balance in the accumulation and outgo or ablation of glacier must be attained (Britannica 2002). Having this condition, there is an implication that the glacier will grow only if there is more gain than loss of material. Otherwise, it will almost not change its size if the balance remains or worse, the glacier will shrink. A counterpart of this is what is called glacier advance. Here instead of melting, glacier is forming. This mechanism counteracts glacier retreat and the two processes seem to happen as a cycle thus sustaining glaciers. This is the natural way. However due to increasing global temperature, glaciers retreat more than it advances. In simple words, more glaciers melt than reforms. All these have been happening for several decades now and it seems that only the scientists and scholars are the only ones who are so aware of these things.

For the past millennia, the Earth has undergone a number of alternating ice ages and glacier recessions. As man dominated the planet and learned to make use of technology and nature, global temperature started o rise gradually and so unnoticed. Cars and factories have emitted billions of tons of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and these gases have caused a temperature rise of about 0.6 to 0.9 ºC over the past century. And as the timeline gets nearer to the present, temperature rises more rapidly. Studies done led to the findings that the rate of warming in the last fifty years was twice the rate observed over the last century (Riebeek 2007).

Glaciers grew during the so-called Little Ice Age, a period from about 1550 to 1850 when the world felt a relatively cooler temperatures compared to the present times. After this period, glaciers started to retreat as a response to warming climate, and this has been continuing until now with the situation getting worse every year (North Cascade Glacier Project 2009).

The Polar Regions feel the most direct hit. The North Pole or the Arctic and the South Pole or the Antarctic serve as the basin of the Earth’s ice and haven for organisms that can survive only in cold environments. As the glaciers retreat, these inhabitants of the Poles become vulnerable to extinction, not to mention the people living in Russia, Greenland and other countries in the Arctic Circle. And on a larger scale, even those in the tropics and subtropics will eventually experience the drawbacks of too much glacier retreat.

The Arctic Region includes Siberia, Greenland, Canada, Alaska and some more countries located in the high latitudes in the northern hemisphere. One of the most conspicuous ice areas here is the Greenland Ice Cap that is about 10,000 feet high and –85 to –90 ºF in temperature, and the mean annual temperature in the whole Arctic is less than 20 ºF (Macdonald 1966), almost 7 ºC below zero. Studies done by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in 2007 revealed that the Arctic ice was melting at a faster rate than what was expected before. Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has become less because as icebergs break, chunks of ice float into the open ocean and there melt (Silverman 2007). Even more alarming is the result of modeling studies done by American scientists in 2007 that by the year 2013, the Arctic could be totally ice-free during its summers, though the forecast was 2030 in a report presented a year before (Miller 2007).

Glaciologists pay much attention to the Antarctic. The Antarctic Region holds approximately 90% of all ice on Earth (Eilperin 2006) and is thus the coldest region of the planet. It is the world’s highest continent being over 6000 feet above sea level and is 12 ºC colder than the Arctic (King 1969). Though it is not as much populated as the Arctic, it serves as a safe place for many different species that includes Polar bears, penguins, and whales. Reports say that the Antarctic ice sheet is losing as much as 36 cubic miles of ice annually and this is associated to global warming. It is also believed that the amount of water coming from melting ice sheet causes a rise of about 0.4 millimeters in sea level every year (Eilperin 2006).

Aside from these major ice regions, mountain ranges in the middle latitudes such as the Himalayas, Alps and Mount Kilimanjaro have shown significant loss of glacial ice. If in deforestation, mountains “shed its skin” from green to brown or gray, in glacier retreat it is from bluish white to brown or gray. This is a not so surprising news yet still a stunning fact that the people should be more aware of.

In the long run, all species will be affected by the retreat of glaciers, above all of them of course are us humans. The Antarctic and Arctic both play an important role in balancing the planet’s heat budget. Excess heat from the middle latitudes are transferred to the Poles via advection, a process by which heat is transferred by mass movement in the atmosphere in the form of warm air and water vapor. When excess heat reaches the Poles, it is dispersed into space (King 1969). Furthermore, sea ice have been proven to reflect 80% of sunlight and ultraviolet rays back to the atmosphere whereas ocean water absorbs 90% of sunlight (Silverman 2007). So the more glaciers retreat, the more ocean water there is and the more sunlight is absorbed thus contributing to the increase in global temperature.

Antarctica sheds more than two-thirds of the world’s fresh water in the form of ice (Hodgson 1990). As ice melts, fresh water flows to the seas and ocean and these waters are at risk for pollution. Eventually, clean water supply will be lost and clean water may get even scarcer than it is today. On the other hand, glaciers in the mountain ranges serve as good water sources for rivers that depend greatly on runoff especially during the dry seasons.

Glacier retreat is also accounted for the rise in global sea level. Studies done by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change showed that aside from thermal expansion of water in seas and oceans, glaciers from the Poles contribute a considerable amount to rising sea level. Climate changes during the last century are estimated to have contributed about 0.2 millimeters in se level from Antarctica and 0.1 millimeters from Greenland ice every year. Projections also show that glaciers will add 0.01 to 0.23 meter to sea level in the next century, Greenland will contribute 0.02 to 0.09 meter and the Antarctic will give 0.17 to 0.2 meter.

When all these continue, animals that are adapted only to cold surroundings will definitely be in danger and this can also increase erosion rates and worsen shoreline problems (Wyman 1991). Geography will possibly be affected as well. Global warming and climate change have been major global problems and different nations have been doing every way possible to address these. But then, for as long as the root cause persists, that is, the continuing abuse and misuse of the environment by the people, disorder and other resulting problems such as glacier retreat will remain unless people will be more particular with the situation and make themselves involved in mitigating these unfavorable conditions.

Works Cited:

Hodgson, Bryan. “Antarctica: A Land of Isolation No More.” National Geographic April 1990: 2-51.

King, H. G. R. The Antarctic. London: Blandford Press, 1969.

Macdonald, Ronald St. J. The Arctic Frontier. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1966.

Mellor, Malcolm. Antarctic Snow and Ice Studies. Washington: American Geophysical Union of the

National Academy of Science – National Research Council, 1964.

Wyman, Richard. Global Climate and Life on Earth. New York: Routledge, Chapman and Hall, 1991.

“Glacier Retreat and Advance.” The New Encyclopedia Britannica. 2002 ed.

Amos, Jonathan. “Arctic Summers Ice-free ‘by 2013′.” Online. Internet. 19 Feb. 2009. Available URL:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7139797.stm.

Eilperin, Juliet. “Antarctic Ice Sheet Is Melting Rapidly; New Study Warns of Rising Sea Levels.”

Washington Post 3 Mar. 2006:A01. Washington Post Online. Online. 19 Feb. 2009.