Current:Home > InvestAs glaciers melt, a new study seeks protection of ecosystems that emerge in their place-LoTradeCoin
As glaciers melt, a new study seeks protection of ecosystems that emerge in their place
View Date:2024-12-23 15:17:20
GENEVA (AP) — A new scientific study published Thursday suggests the world should start preparing to protect the ecosystems that emerge from under the disappearing ice, as a warming planet is inevitably causing glaciers to melt.
If nothing is done to stop global warming, the world could lose glaciers totaling the size of Finland by 2100. Even a best-case scenario — if the targets of the Paris Agreement to stop climate change are met — foresees glacier shrinkage the size of Nepal, according to the study published in the scientific journal Nature.
The analysis from Swiss and French scientists adds to worries about glacier melt and a growing call to step up efforts to protect the planet from climate change.
In their research, the scientists say humans have grown to live with glaciers for millennia, and the worrying retreat of the ice cover — currently amounting to 10 percent of the Earth’s land surface — will require both action to stop it and adaptation for its impact.
Glaciers play a key role on the planet, by reflecting sunlight or providing fresh water for irrigation, power generation and consumption, says study co-author Jean-Baptiste Bosson, a French-Swiss glacier expert with the National Council for the Protection of Nature in Annecy, France.
He said work is being done to slow down the retreat of glaciers, though it won’t be “decisive” in saving them.
“But after the glaciers (melt) not everything is lost,” Bosson said in an interview. “We especially need to protect the nature that will follow the glaciers: we need to protect the forests of tomorrow, the great lakes of tomorrow, the great fjords of tomorrow.”
The areas where glaciers once were will be “degraded” when the ice melts, Bosson said, adding that nature should be left to do its work: “There is a chance for ecosystems to rebound if we leave them space and time ... nature itself will find solutions: It will capture carbon, purify fresh water, create habitats for biodiversity.”
Glacier retreat hit unprecedented high levels in Europe last year, especially in Switzerland.
The team behind the Nature study analyzed some 210,000 glaciers on Earth, not including the gigantic Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, and found that glaciers covered some 665,000 square kilometers (257,000 square miles), about the size of Afghanistan, in 2020.
Depending on the different scenarios, which the experts slice up from worst-case to best-case, the world could lose between roughly 149,000 square kilometers (58,000 square miles) to some 339,000 square kilometers (131,000 square miles), by 2100. The team accounts for possible statistical variance. The loss could be much larger.
“Melting glaciers have become icons of climate change. People are mostly worried about the impact glacier melt will have on sea-level rise, seasonal water availability, and geohazards,” said Prof. Ben Marzeion, of the Institute of Geography at Germany’s University of Bremen.
“This study shows that there is more we need to be prepared for. It also shows that we are still in the process of uncovering the multitude of impacts climate change will have,” said Marzeion, who was not involved in the research.
Omar Baddour, chief of climate monitoring at the World Meteorological Organization, said the study was useful to complement ongoing efforts by the U.N. climate agency and others to monitor — and predict — physical indicators of the Earth system.
Bosson says that record high temperatures reached this year in the northern hemisphere are producing worrisome outcomes that could have an even greater impact in the future – though not all data is in yet.
“We try to tell the story of the future of the surfaces today occupied by glaciers on Earth,” he said in a video call from the French Alpine town of Annecy. “Then we ask: Will tomorrow still see big glaciers, or smaller glaciers depending on the climate scenarios?”
veryGood! (23187)
Related
- Wisconsin authorities believe kayaker staged his disappearance and fled to Europe
- Europe reaches a deal on the world’s first comprehensive AI rules
- Biden thanks police for acting during UNLV shooting, renews calls for gun control measures
- The U.S. economy has a new twist: Deflation. Here's what it means.
- 'Heretic' spoilers! Hugh Grant spills on his horror villain's fears and fate
- Mexican immigration agents detain 2 Iranians who they say were under observation by the FBI
- UN takes no immediate action at emergency meeting on Guyana-Venezuela dispute over oil-rich region
- UNLV shooting victims join growing number of lives lost to mass killings in US this year
- Mississippi rising, Georgia falling in college football NCAA Re-Rank 1-134 after Week 11
- Chinese leaders wrap up annual economic planning meeting with scant details on revving up growth
Ranking
- Bo the police K-9, who located child taken at knifepoint, wins Hero Dog Awards 2024
- Teacher gifting etiquette: What is (and isn't) appropriate this holiday
- Derek Hough Shares Update on Wife Hayley Erbert’s Health After Skull Surgery
- AP Week in Pictures: Global | Dec. 1 - Dec. 7, 2023
- 'Yellowstone' premiere: Record ratings, Rip's ride and Billy Klapper's tribute
- Teacher gifting etiquette: What is (and isn't) appropriate this holiday
- Southern California man sentenced to life in prison for sex trafficking minors: 'Inexcusable' and 'horrific' acts
- Europe reaches a deal on the world’s first comprehensive AI rules
Recommendation
-
Jennifer Hudson, Kylie Minogue and Billy Porter to perform at Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade
-
Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes' Exes Andrew Shue and Marilee Fiebig Spotted Together Amid Budding Romance
-
French actor Gerard Depardieu is under scrutiny over sexual remarks and gestures in new documentary
-
Celebrities Celebrate the Holidays 2023: Christmas, Hanukkah and More
-
Mike Tyson concedes the role of villain to young foe in 58-year-old’s fight with Jake Paul
-
Horoscopes Today, December 8, 2023
-
Michigan school shooting victims to speak as teen faces possible life sentence
-
Mormon church selects British man from lower-tier council for top governing body