What Causes Global Warming - Yahoo! Canada Answers - What Causes Glaciers to Melt (Besides Global Warming)?

Posted by Rolf Joho on August 22nd, 2010 filed in What Causes Global Warming

What causes glaciers to melt (besides global warming)?

What's really causing Himalayan glaciers to melt?
A new study suggests that black carbon could be the cause of Himalayan glaciers melting.
Now, a new study by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and NCAR, finds that human-emitted aerosols are the single major contributor to glacial melt in the Himalayas.

In this case, increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide are not melting the mountain glaciers, say the authors. Particulate matter, particularly black carbon from cooking fires and coal-fired plants in India, is the real culprit.

These particulates can melt ice in two ways. First, floating in the air, they absorb sunlight and heat the surrounding atmosphere. Warmer air melts glaciers and changes precipitation patters.

In fact, weather stations across India measured a decrease in sunlight reaching the ground of about 0.5 watts per square meter per year between 1964 to 1990. After 1990, that rate of decrease went up to 1.1 watts per square meter per year.

Particulates can also melt the ice when they precipitate out of the air and land on it. Snow and ice normally reflects much of the sun's energy — up to 90 percent — back the way it came. But a layer of soot on top of the ice will absorb the sunlight, warm the ice beneath, and melt it.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Bri… —————– Why are Glaciers Melting Faster Today
Glaciers are melting faster today as compared to the past many centuries. Why this sudden change? Almost everyone believe that the prime reason for this is sudden and rapid industrialization which in turn has caused global warming – the prime culprit of fast melting glaciers.

Global warming is the rise in average global temperature that has happened over the past century. The 'industrial revolution' is the main cause of this rise in average temperature. The indiscriminate burning of fossil fuels have resulted in extreme atmospheric pollution leading to this condition. Coal is still burnt in huge quantities for various reasons such as electricity production. Burning of oil is a major culprit in the past century. Deforestation has increased to procure wood and make more space available for farming, resulting in an increase in carbon dioxide concentrations. All these pollutants help in trapping more heat in the earth's atmosphere, increasing global temperatures.

It is due to this increase in temperature that glaciers are melting more than they actually should. When a glacier melts fully, it exposes the earth below. Glaciers absorb approximately 20% heat from the sun, reflecting back 80%. When the earth gets exposed this percentage gets reversed. This in turn causes a further increase in temperature. This is a vicious trap which has already begun and it will be almost impossible for us to stop it totally.

In the future the global temperature will in all likelihood keep increasing, melting glaciers even faster than they are today.
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/why-are-g…

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What to make of the year without a winter.(THE LION'S DEN): An article from: National Catholic ReporterThis digital document is an article from National Catholic Reporter, published by Thomson Gale on February 2, 2007. The length of the article is 899 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: What to make of the year without a winter.(THE LION'S DEN)
Author: Robert Royal
Publication: National Catholic Reporter (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 2, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 43 Issue: 14 Page: 17(1)

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