Whoa! Looks like the next ice age is already 100 years in progress after 10,000 years of glacial retreat.
<A century ago, after 900 years of retreat, the Hubbard began to advance. A glacier that is near equilibrium, with its snout basically marching in place, has an ablation zone that is about 40 percent of the total area. But even after a century, the Hubbard's is just a tenth as large. "It's still so far out of balance," Mr. Trabant said, "that there's no reasonably conceivable change in climate that can keep it from advancing. It just doesn't care." And it is not alone. Other calving glaciers in Alaska are also pressing forward. To the west, Meares Glacier, which ends in Unakwik Inlet, is crashing through an old-growth forest, while Harvard Glacier, which empties into College Fjord, is also advancing smartly. >
Forests absorb energy and provide warming. If they get bulldozed and ice covered, they start reflecting instead of absorbing heat. The carbon of those forests is buried and taken out of the ecosystem, reducing the greenhouse effect which helps avoid ice ages.
We'd better dig plenty of fossil carbon up quick smart and get it into the atmosphere to counteract the ice cover.
Thank goodness we have Colin Powell and George II standing firm to prevent another ice age.
Mqurice |
