Glaciers: causes and consequences of their retreat

Glaciers, those majestic "rivers of ice" that have slowly carved mountains and valleys throughout the Earth's history, are an essential element of our planet.

But what is happening to these vast and fragile glaciers?

Accumulation and loss of glacier snow

The big problem behind the loss of glaciers around the world

is actually not so much the phenomenon of glacier melting itself,

but rather the fact that all the melting and evaporation activity now tends to far exceed the ice accumulation activity!

Let me explain:

in a normal situation, where the climate is favourable to the ice ecosystem and there is not the slightest effect of climate change on these ice areas,

the glaciers would still melt and evaporate a certain amount of snow, which, unlike today, would by no means exceed the amount of snow

that would seasonally accumulate on their surface during the big winter snowfalls.

There would thus be a balance between the snow that evaporated and melted and the new snow that accumulated during the winter!

Today, however, this important balance has been so far exceeded,

that it has shifted completely in favour of almost total melting of the ice over most of the Earth's glaciers.

History of melting glaciers

Although we hear about it more and more these days, the problem of melting glaciers started many years ago!

In short, climate change and the loss of glaciers, is actually a very old problem.

But let us try to put things in perspective and start at the beginning.

We are in the year 1992, when the ice caps slowly started to lose more and more ice,

so much so that by 2017 they had lost a total of 6400 gigatonnes of ice.

In the same period, between 1993 and 2020, sea levels around the world rose by about 3.1 centimetres,

in particular in the Mediterranean by about 2.5 millimetres per year and in the western Pacific by about 4.2 millimetres.

And all of this is due to an increase in the melting of glaciers worldwide, a phenomenon that has in fact caused up to 70% of the global rise in sea level over time!!

Glaciers and local populations

Most of the world's human populations depend on water resources from glaciers.

Some of these populations are directly dependent on these natural sources of water,

making them the first to be affected by the loss of increasing amounts of ice on their mountaintops.

However, as difficult as it is to understand because of the great distance that separates us from these natural sources of life,

the reality is that we all depend on them, whether directly or indirectly!

Moreover, there are several areas of the world that even depend on glacier water to generate electricity,

electricity that could be lost precisely because of this constant melting of the glaciers

forcing communities to turn to much more polluting sources of electricity,

thus further increasing global warming;

the very warming that is causing this devastating melting of the glaciers!

Glacier - dependent life forms

It is well known that the symbol of glaciers and the frozen world is the large and imposing polar bear.

In fact, over the years, this mammal has experienced an increasingly dramatic decline in its population, precisely because of global warming and melting glaciers.

We know this, we are now all too aware of it.

What we do not realise is that the polar bear is just the tip of the iceberg!

There are so many species of animals and plants that are threatened with extinction precisely because of the loss of this icy ecosystem,

from the various species of birds that prefer the low temperatures of the glaciers for their daily activities such as breeding and hunting,

to all those species of aquatic animals and plants that are experiencing a drastic reduction in their habitats due to rising temperatures,

which is leading these very species

to extinction with no way out!

Rising temperatures in aquatic habitats have become such a pervasive problem that they have even affected entire coral reefs,

vital habitats for the photosynthetic process and the survival of many marine species.

Sunlight, which is essential for photosynthesis, is now very limited in the deepest waters precisely because of rising water levels,

and this great reduction of solar energy in the deep sea means an enormous weakening of ecosystems and the species within them that depend on corals for their sustenance.

Finally, we must not forget the species, both animal and plant, that are adapted to living on the edges of the glaciers themselves,

and whose existence depends solely on the existence and survival of these ecosystems!

Paradises to protect

The story of glaciers is a complicated, complex and wonderfully damnable one!

The fate of us humans, animals and plants is inextricably linked to that of the glaciers!

That is why it is so important to understand the absolute necessity of preserving these living paradises!