Alaska Glaciers melting faster than previously thought

[Bandit]

Alaska's Capital City Paper Front page above the fold with pictures

Ice in Southeast vanishing twice as fast as expected

The glaciers of Southeast Alaska are shrinking twice as quickly as scientists had previously estimated, according to a new study
<snip>
Scientists involved in the study said this week the Panhandle's ice reservoirs have retreated more drastically during the past couple of years.
<snip>
Juneau residents and tourists visit the retreating Mendenhall Glacier daily. Some of the most dramatic ice losses in the Panhandle are underway at lake-terminating glaciers, such as the Mendenhall, fed by the Juneau Icefield, according to the study. "I just few over the Juneau Icefield three days ago. I was absolutely shocked by how dry and shrunken it looked," said Nick Jans, a Juneau author, on Tuesday.
Further to the south, the amount of ice loss at Tracy Arm's South Sawyer Glacier is "not even conceivable," said Juneau photographer Mark Kelley.
Kelley has photographed the glacier for the past 25 years and recently collaborated with Jans on a 40-page book about Tracy Arm's glaciers. In 2004, the South Sawyer Glacier retreated approximately one-half mile, clogging the water with icebergs
<snip>
The Panhandle study - now under review by third-party scientists - is the first to measure ice loss at all major Panhandle glaciers.
The study measured changes in glacial elevation at 74 individual glaciers. "It's total coverage," Larsen said.
A previous study, published in 2002, profiled ice loss at 12 glaciers in Southeast Alaska. When those results were extrapolated to the rest of the Panhandle, the result was a significant underestimate of regional ice loss, Motyka said. The new study was enabled by a 2000 NASA Endeavour space shuttle project called the Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission. Among other duties, the shuttle mission produced a new three-dimensional radar map of Southeast Alaska. Motyka and his colleagues collected the NASA maps and compared them to topographical maps and high-resolution photographs of Southeast Alaska dating back to 1948.
After final revision, a paper describing the Panhandle study will be published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/080206/loc_20060802017.shtml

[Bandit]

1. Mendenhall Glacier is retreating at approximately 350 feet per year

In 2004 it retreated 680 feet. Before 2000 it was retreating about 40 feet per year. ... Yeh Bush* :hurts:

[soothsayer]

2. Are people capturing this glacial runoff? Cuz that fresh water

is going to get wasted when it spills into the sea

[texastoast]

24. I heard a brewery up there

was getting the "virgin" water and making beer.

When life gives you a completely incompetent idiot president, make beer!

[progressoid]

3. B - b - b - but it's all cyclical.

[corkhead]

4. Good, it should make it easier to get to the oil

Just in case, I know I don't have 1000 posts yet:...

:sarcasm:

[BlueOysterCult]

5. If thats not evidence

then what is? - ferkin A - hop on the global warming bandwagon you ass! Every other country has! or does he want his rach under 10ft of water? damn it! Stop this runaway frieght train ! The funny thing now is that polar bears will make the endangered species and then they'll have to do something ( in a perfect world)

[cezebrgr]

31. YOU MEAN THE NORTH WEST PASSAGE?

DO YOU NEED A THOUSAND POST TO START A THREAD?

[Deep13]

6. What are those four horsemen doing on the Interstate?

[Blue_In_AK]

7. Portage Glacier near Anchorage

has retreated alarmingly over the past 25 years or so, as well.

[nam78_two]

8. K & R

:(

[leftofthedial]

9. Tony Sinclair will be pissed

face it. we are screwed.

[lakeguy]

11. totally screwed. the only thing aliens will find from our

civilization one day, many years from now, will be cigarette butts and plastic wrappers.

[Julius Civitatus]

10. Heatwave in NYC: 102° , but feels like 116°

Today in NYC 102° in the shade, with humidity and wind factors making it feel like 116°.

I'm surprised the entire city in not melting...

[Subdivisions]

14. Get used to it New York, Chicago and Boston

The question is not whether or not the weather and climate patterns we've been used to are changing. The question is; What will be the effects?

Melting glaciers is one thing, but the effect of melting glaciers is a whole other animal.

[Blue_In_AK]

18. If the climate models are correct...

...this global warming and melting of the ice sheets will ultimately slow down the hot/cold currents in the Atlantic which will cause the northeast and northern Europe to become very, very cold. Maybe you all should enjoy the heat while you've got it. :sarcasm:

[girl gone mad]

15. All that concrete traps heat...

like being in a tandoori oven.

[longship]

19. Don't worry, it's a wet heat.

:evilgrin:

[Bretttido]

12. What will Bush say?

Bush: The American peeple want debate, see? And I'm the Debater, he-he. The evidence isn't in yet... gathering evidence is hard work, see? Cheney told me the ice falls into tha ocean and turns to water. I haven't made my mind up though, we can't rush the science. Terrists could be melting the ice. We don't know cause no one knows if a terrist has melted ice. But we know enough that we know we don't know enough. What I'm trying to say... what the people... americans want to know... I don't know, but Barney doesn't seem to mind the hot weather. Lookee at that fella wag his tail.

[Dead_Parrot]

21. I don't if I should laugh or cry...

That's just plain spooky.

:hi:

[Bretttido]

22. If you don't know, unfortunately, you should probably cry

:hi:

[earth mom]

26. OMG-I can totally hear him saying that too!

:scared:

[swag]

13. We am teh fuXX0r!

[Chulanowa]

16. It's no better here on Prince William Sound

Here in Cordova we have four nearby glaciers - Miles, Childs, Sheridan, and Sherman. Miles and Childs are on the copper river, and are breaking apart. Sherman and Sheridan have turned into muddy streaks on the horizon - which they doi every summer... but htey were muddy in April (which is still "winter" for us).

Together with the total destruction of the Gulf of Mexico, the loss of the worlds' glaciers depreses ht hell out of me.

[Blue_In_AK]

20. Hi, Chulanowa...

Another Alaskan I didn't know was here. :hi:

[Chulanowa]

27. Not for long!

Gearing up to be an Oregonian by the middle of the month :)

[barb162]

28. You live in perhaps the most beautiful part of the world

Incredibly beautiful country. Been there twice... I can;t imagine it without glaciers

[Dinger]

17. K & R!

[erknm]

23. But wait, the glaciers can't melt,

where will I go skiing in the summer?

FH

[louis c]

25. Who is this Blair character?

and what happened to the British Prime Minister who was the chief supporter of the biggest asshole to hold the leadership in a major country, anywhere in the world, since the deaths of Hitler and Stalin?

I guess this "lap-dog" nips.

[barb162]

29. Horrible news but it doesn't surprise me

[Catchawave]

30. National Wildlife Federation article:

http://www.nwf.org/nationalwildlife/article.cfm?issueID=109&articleID=1361