Are glaciers melting too fast ?

IPCC Report August 2021 - Humans merely took 120 years to alter the planet’s climate.

UN Sec. Gen. Antonio Guterres said, "This report is a code red for humanity”. The average temperature will increase by 1.5 degrees in the next 20 years and will pass 2 degrees by the mid of this century. (Without sharp reductions in GHG emissions).

The planet as our forefathers left is hardly recognizable today as it was in 1850 – 1900 because it was not influenced by humans in the pre-industrial era. This IPCC report looks like a self-inflicted death sentence, extreme weather events in times to come have convicted humanity already. It’s a feedback loop mechanism where any increase in the earth's warming leads to fundamental changes in the way the climate operates. Climate Zones have shifted poleward in both hemispheres. The warmer it gets, the more it enhances the atmosphere’s capacity to carry moisture so we will witness intense and increased rains. With every one-degree increase in warming, there is a 7% increase in the intensification of rain. The planet’s frozen landmass and the polar regions are also melting. In the last decade i.e. 2011-2020, the annual average Arctic ice levels reached their lowest level since 1850. Since 1950 the way global glacier levels are retreating synchronously is unprecedented in at least the last 2000 years. A scary forecast is that we might see the Arctic sea ice-free before 2050.

Permafrost at the North and South poles are grounds that remain completely frozen at -32 degrees Fahrenheit and has started melting which brings various problems for the planet's inhabitants. 90% of the world lives in the Northern hemisphere with a major population in the tropical and sub-tropical regions, these will be directly affected.

The problems arising out of Permafrost thawing (melting) are multiple.

(i)        Sea levels will rise; crores of people will have to be relocated.

(ii)        It releases stored Carbon worsening the Climate crisis

(iii)       The loss of ice cover will further accelerate the rise of temperature (Ice has more albedo than water)

(iv)       The diseases affecting the equatorial belt have already started spreading to higher altitudes. Mosquitoes, ticks, and other insects spread many of these diseases for eg West Nile Virus which was first reported in 1999 and has been causing hundreds of deaths in the USA every year. With the rising temperature, West Nile will also be prevalent in Canada and the Arctic.

(v)       Enhanced risk of zoonotic diseases as warming will cause changes in the habitat of wild birds like geese, and ducks that can carry Avian flu. Russia reported its first case of Avian flu H5N8 which was passed on from a bird to a human.

(vi)       There is also a concern among scientists that due to permafrost thawing there may be a rise in viruses and bacteria which will have the potential to cause a pandemic. These disease-causing microbes would have been dormant for hundreds or even thousands of years and can cause precarious situations for mankind. As carcasses of infected animals (like the extinct mammoths) thaw, the possibility of a disease outbreak is a definite possibility. In the summer of 2016, Siberia saw an outbreak of Anthrax in which dozens were infected with one fatality. Around 2300 reindeers perished.

In February 2021 a glacier in the Himalayas which is warming up three times faster than the global average burst apart releasing a torrential flood that caused immense destruction and deaths, this was a direct response to climate change. Tibetan’s plateau glacial ice is also melting. Recently 15000-year-old viruses were discovered including 28 different kinds of viruses identified for the first time.

Summary

To save the planet’s glaciers and address climate change, the global Carbon emissions need to be cut down by 45% over the next decade and they need to fall to zero by 2050. We will need to take global collective action. If one country cuts its emissions that will be of little use if others do not. Some solutions to this gigantic problem are being thought of however the scale might not match up as on date, nevertheless, these are some stories to be cherished, bringing a smile to the gloom.

(i)        The scientific journal Nature suggested building a 100-meter-long dam in front of the Jakobshavn glacier (Greenland), the worst affected by Arctic melting, to contain its erosion.

(ii)        An Indonesian has won an award for his project Refreeze the Artic which consists of collecting water from the melted glaciers, desalinating it, and freezing them again to create large hexagonal ice blocks, it is because of their shape that these blocks are then recreated as huge frozen masses.

What lies below permafrost and Tundra may seem far away, but no matter where we live, our everyday choices will contribute to climate change. Reducing carbon footprint, investing in clean energy, and supporting a climate-friendly business environment with our legislation and policies will prove to be a deterrent to climate change and will save the glaciers and avert a vicious cycle of an ever-warming climate. Climate change is here and now, and only an early action will save it.