by Mak

Created on: September 29, 2008

Glaciers are melting it is a truth like day light. Although argument is still on whether the melting is natural process continuing for centuries or due to the increased global warming, but the fact is that effect of melting glaciers will put trillions cubic meter of additional water into the sea, sea level will increase and some of the low lying countries will disappear from world map completely or partly.

Contradicting the argument of glaciers is melting from natural process, I would say, "Yes, it is true that there are some natural phenomena contributing to melting but global warming is accelerating the process of melting. Low lying lands, which would have been under water after millions of years by natural process, human action of global warming prompting same to happen only after few hundreds of years.

Olden days scientific advancement was not there to measure the rate of polar ice cap melting, now we have means to quantify and compare the melting rate on year basis.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is formulated to study climate change and reports provide very comprehensive information. Although some may have contradicted the earlier reports but the acceptance level of the facts and figures given in IPCC report is increasing.

Latest report Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Base' for world policy makers have reports on glacier melting as quoted below from the IPCC website:

"Mountain glaciers and snow cover have declined on average on both hemispheres. Wide spread decreases in glaciers and ice caps have contributed to sea level rise".

"New data since TAR now show that losses from the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica have very likely contributed to sea level rise over 1993 to 2003. Flow speed has increased for some Greenland and Antarctic outlet glaciers, which drain ice from interior of ice sheets. The corresponding increased ice sheet mass loss has often followed thinning, reduction or loss of ice shelves or loss of floating glacier tongues. Such dynamical ice loss is sufficient to explain most of the Antarctic net mass loss and approximately half of the Greenland net mass loss. The remainder of ice loss from Greenland has occurred because losses due to melting have exceeded accumulation due to snowfall".

"Global sea level rose at an average rate of 1.8 (1.3 to 2.3) mm per year from 1963 to 2003. The rate was faster over 1993 to 2003, about 3.1 (2.4 to 3.8) mm per year. Whether the faster rate for 1993 to 2003 reflects decadal variability or an increase in the longer-term trend is unclear. There is high confidence that the rate of observed sea level rise increased from 19th to 20th century. The total 20th century rise estimated to be .17 (0.12 to 0.22) mm".

Above extracts from 2007 IPCC report clearly indicates that glaciers are melting much faster than before.

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