In a USA Today article, Lonnie Thompson, a glacier expert at Ohio State University said that "Climate change is causing roughly 90% of the world's mountain glaciers to shrink." Thanks to global warming, glaciers in the Sierra Nevada, the Rocky Mountains, the ice fields of Patagonia in Argentina and Chile, and ice masses elsewhere in the world are shrinking at an alarming rate. In fact, "Warmer temperatures have cut the number of glaciers at Montana's Glacier National Park from 150 to 26 since 1850, and some scientists project there will be none left within 25 to 30 years." Guess they'll have to rename that park, eh? According to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Earth's frozen ground in the Northern Hemisphere has decreased by about 7% since 1900. For those who like to poo-poo all the talk about global warming as...poo poo, well, they fail to consider that the more ice that melts, the more the sea levels will rise, which will have detrimental effects on coastlines and waterways worldwide (ie.- Waterworld with Kevin Costner).
So, what's this about a glacier that is growing despite the rise in global temperatures? Mount Shasta, a peak 14,000 feet above sea level that is 270 miles north of San Francisco, has seven glaciers that "are the only historical glaciers in the continental U.S. known to be growing." How can this be? It seems that these glaciers are actually benefiting from global warming in that it now receives more moisture from a warming Pacific Ocean, which falls in the form of snow, thus adding to the size of the glaciers. In fact, Mount Shasta's glaciers have been growing since the early 20th Century. This is not an isolated phenomenon. According to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, glaciers in southern Norway and Sweden, the New Zealand Alps and northern Pakistan have also (until recently) benefited from this change in global temperatures. Unfortunately, Mount Shasta's glaciers' growth won't forever be able to stay ahead of the rising temperatures. It is estimated that all of Mount Shasta's glaciers will be gone by 2100 because its current rate of snowfall can't keep up with the estimated 11.2% increase in global temperatures by the end of the century.
It is sad to think that one day all of the beautiful glaciers we enjoy today will be gone, and even more sad to think that that day is not far off. Naturalist John Muir once said of Mount Shasta: "When I first caught sight of it over the braided folds of the Sacramento Valley, I was fifty miles away and afoot, alone and weary. Yet all my blood turned to wine, and I have not been weary since."
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