Download or read book Vanishing Ice written by Vivien Gornitz and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2019-06-11 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Arctic is thawing. In summer, cruise ships sail through the once ice-clogged Northwest Passage, lakes form on top of the Greenland Ice Sheet, and polar bears swim farther and farther in search of waning ice floes. At the opposite end of the world, floating Antarctic ice shelves are shrinking. Mountain glaciers are in retreat worldwide, unleashing flash floods and avalanches. We are on thin ice—and with melting permafrost’s potential to let loose still more greenhouse gases, these changes may be just the beginning. Vanishing Ice is a powerful depiction of the dramatic transformation of the cryosphere—the world of ice and snow—and its consequences for the human world. Delving into the major components of the cryosphere, including ice sheets, valley glaciers, permafrost, and floating ice, Vivien Gornitz gives an up-to-date explanation of key current trends in the decline of ice mass. Drawing on a long-term perspective gained by examining changes in the cryosphere and corresponding variations in sea level over millions of years, she demonstrates the link between thawing ice and sea-level rise to point to the social and economic challenges on the horizon. Gornitz highlights the widespread repercussions of ice loss, which will affect countless people far removed from frozen regions, to explain why the big meltdown matters to us all. Written for all readers and students interested in the science of our changing climate, Vanishing Ice is an accessible and lucid warning of the coming thaw.

Download or read book Himalayan Glaciers written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2012-11-29 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientific evidence shows that most glaciers in South Asia's Hindu Kush Himalayan region are retreating, but the consequences for the region's water supply are unclear, this report finds. The Hindu Kush Himalayan region is the location of several of Asia's great river systems, which provide water for drinking, irrigation, and other uses for about 1.5 billion people. Recent studies show that at lower elevations, glacial retreat is unlikely to cause significant changes in water availability over the next several decades, but other factors, including groundwater depletion and increasing human water use, could have a greater impact. Higher elevation areas could experience altered water flow in some river basins if current rates of glacial retreat continue, but shifts in the location, intensity, and variability of rain and snow due to climate change will likely have a greater impact on regional water supplies. Himalayan Glaciers: Climate Change, Water Resources, and Water Security makes recommendations and sets guidelines for the future of climate change and water security in the Himalayan Region. This report emphasizes that social changes, such as changing patterns of water use and water management decisions, are likely to have at least as much of an impact on water demand as environmental factors do on water supply. Water scarcity will likely affect the rural and urban poor most severely, as these groups have the least capacity to move to new locations as needed. It is predicted that the region will become increasingly urbanized as cities expand to absorb migrants in search of economic opportunities. As living standards and populations rise, water use will likely increase-for example, as more people have diets rich in meat, more water will be needed for agricultural use. The effects of future climate change could further exacerbate water stress. Himalayan Glaciers: Climate Change, Water Resources, and Water Security explains that changes in the availability of water resources could play an increasing role in political tensions, especially if existing water management institutions do not better account for the social, economic, and ecological complexities of the region. To effectively respond to the effects of climate change, water management systems will need to take into account the social, economic, and ecological complexities of the region. This means it will be important to expand research and monitoring programs to gather more detailed, consistent, and accurate data on demographics, water supply, demand, and scarcity.

Download or read book The Big Thaw written by Ezra B. W. Zubrow and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2019-09-01 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the unprecedented and rapid climate changes occurring in the Arctic environment. Climate change, one of the drivers of global change, is controversial in political circles, but recognized in scientific ones as being of central importance today for the United States and the world. In The Big Thaw, the editors bring together experts, advocates, and academic professionals who address the serious issue of how climate change in the Circumpolar Arctic is affecting and will continue to affect environments, cultures, societies, and economies throughout the world. The contributors discuss a variety of topics, including anthropology, sociology, human geography, community economics, regional development and planning, and political science, as well as biogeophysical sciences such as ecology, human-environmental interactions, and climatology. “This book offers a valuable compendium on a broad spectrum of issues associated with climate change, its implications, and human adaptation in the Arctic.” — Andrey N. Petrov, coauthor of Arctic Sustainability Research: Past, Present, and Future

Download or read book Global Land Ice Measurements from Space written by Jeffrey S. Kargel and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-07-08 with total page 936 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An international team of over 150 experts provide up-to-date satellite imaging and quantitative analysis of the state and dynamics of the glaciers around the world, and they provide an in-depth review of analysis methodologies. Includes an e-published supplement. Global Land Ice Measurements from Space - Satellite Multispectral Imaging of Glaciers (GLIMS book for short) is the leading state-of-the-art technical and interpretive presentation of satellite image data and analysis of the changing state of the world's glaciers. The book is the most definitive, comprehensive product of a global glacier remote sensing consortium, Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS, http://www.glims.org). With 33 chapters and a companion e-supplement, the world's foremost experts in satellite image analysis of glaciers analyze the current state and recent and possible future changes of glaciers across the globe and interpret these findings for policy planners. Climate change is with us for some time to come, and its impacts are being felt by the world's population. The GLIMS Book, to be released about the same time as the IPCC's 5th Assessment report on global climate warming, buttresses and adds rich details and authority to the global change community's understanding of climate change impacts on the cryosphere. This will be a definitive and technically complete reference for experts and students examining the responses of glaciers to climate change. World experts demonstrate that glaciers are changing in response to the ongoing climatic upheaval in addition to other factors that pertain to the circumstances of individual glaciers. The global mosaic of glacier changes is documented by quantitative analyses and are placed into a perspective of causative factors. Starting with a Foreword, Preface, and Introduction, the GLIMS book gives the rationale for and history of glacier monitoring and satellite data analysis. It includes a comprehensive set of six "how-to" methodology chapters, twenty-five chapters detailing regional glacier state and dynamical changes, and an in-depth summary and interpretation chapter placing the observed glacier changes into a global context of the coupled atmosphere-land-ocean system. An accompanying e-supplement will include oversize imagery and other other highly visual renderings of scientific data.

Download or read book Bodies from the Ice written by James M. Deem and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2008 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author of "Bodies from the Ash" and "Bodies from the Bog" takes readers on a captivating and creepy journey to learn about glaciers, hulking masses of moving ice that are now offering up many secrets of the past. Full color.

Download or read book Review of the Draft Fourth National Climate Assessment written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2018-06-18 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate change poses many challenges that affect society and the natural world. With these challenges, however, come opportunities to respond. By taking steps to adapt to and mitigate climate change, the risks to society and the impacts of continued climate change can be lessened. The National Climate Assessment, coordinated by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, is a mandated report intended to inform response decisions. Required to be developed every four years, these reports provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date evaluation of climate change impacts available for the United States, making them a unique and important climate change document. The draft Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) report reviewed here addresses a wide range of topics of high importance to the United States and society more broadly, extending from human health and community well-being, to the built environment, to businesses and economies, to ecosystems and natural resources. This report evaluates the draft NCA4 to determine if it meets the requirements of the federal mandate, whether it provides accurate information grounded in the scientific literature, and whether it effectively communicates climate science, impacts, and responses for general audiences including the public, decision makers, and other stakeholders.

Download or read book The Melting World written by Christopher White and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2013-09-03 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author of Skipjack documents concerning evidence of adverse climate change in the Rocky Mountains, where climate scientist and ecologist Dan Fagre reveals how a rapid decline of alpine glaciers is threatening the mountain ecosystem.

Download or read book The Archipelago of Hope written by Gleb Raygorodetsky and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-11-07 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While our politicians argue, the truth is that climate change is already here. Nobody knows this better than Indigenous peoples who, having developed an intimate relationship with ecosystems over generations, have observed these changes for decades. For them, climate change is not an abstract concept or policy issue, but the reality of daily life.After two decades of working with indigenous communities, Gleb Raygorodetsky shows how these communities are actually islands of biological and cultural diversity in the ever-rising sea of development and urbanization. They are an “archipelago of hope” as we enter the Anthropocene, for here lies humankind’s best chance to remember our roots and how to take care of the Earth.We meet the Skolt Sami of Finland, the Nenets and Altai of Russia, the Sapara of Ecuador, the Karen of Myanmar, and the Tla-o-qui-aht of Canada. Intimate portraits of these men and women, youth and elders, emerge against the backdrop of their traditional practices on land and water. Though there are brutal realities—pollution, corruption, forced assimilation—Raygorodetsky's prose resonates with the positive, the adaptive, the spiritual—and hope.

Download or read book The Glaciers of Equatorial East Africa written by Stefan Hastenrath and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 1984-06-30 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the course of a decade's work on the mountains of East Africa, I met some of the most wonderful people on Earth. It is impossible to record all those who have helped me in this study in one way or other. Glacier research in East Africa has some history. Nearly half a century ago, Carl Troll completed the first detailed mapping of Lewis Glacier. I had the good fortune of exchanging ideas with him at his home in Bonn in 1974, shortly before his death. Paul C. Spink, Ulceby, North lincolnshire, England, shared with me his photographs and observations on Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya in the 1940s. When I joined the University of Nairobi in 1973, several members of the 1957-58 IGY Mc)Unt Kenya :Expedition were still there. I received generous advice and help from Igor Loupekine, John Loxton, but especially from Robert A. Caukwell and Frank Charnley. Their continuous coopera­ tion was a great encouragement over the years. Heinz Loeffler, University of Vienna, informed me about the depth of Lewis Tarn. Helmut Heuberger, University of Munich, provided me data on his measurements of glacier terminus positions. Peter Gollmer of Geosurveys and Alan Root, Nairobi, gave me aerial photographs of Kibo f~om the early 1970s. I acknowledge support from various other colleagues at the University of Nairobi: Raouf Rostom of the Department of Surveying and Photogrammetry; Neville Skinner of the Department of Physics; G. C. Asnani, John Ng'anga, J. K.

Download or read book Physical Geology written by Steven Earle and published by . This book was released on 2016-08-12 with total page 628 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a discount Black and white version. Some images may be unclear, please see BCCampus website for the digital version.This book was born out of a 2014 meeting of earth science educators representing most of the universities and colleges in British Columbia, and nurtured by a widely shared frustration that many students are not thriving in courses because textbooks have become too expensive for them to buy. But the real inspiration comes from a fascination for the spectacular geology of western Canada and the many decades that the author spent exploring this region along with colleagues, students, family, and friends. My goal has been to provide an accessible and comprehensive guide to the important topics of geology, richly illustrated with examples from western Canada. Although this text is intended to complement a typical first-year course in physical geology, its contents could be applied to numerous other related courses.

Download or read book Encyclopedia of Snow Ice and Glaciers written by Vijay P. Singh and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-06-29 with total page 1301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The earth’s cryosphere, which includes snow, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, ice shelves, sea ice, river and lake ice, and permafrost, contains about 75% of the earth’s fresh water. It exists at almost all latitudes, from the tropics to the poles, and plays a vital role in controlling the global climate system. It also provides direct visible evidence of the effect of climate change, and, therefore, requires proper understanding of its complex dynamics. This encyclopedia mainly focuses on the various aspects of snow, ice and glaciers, but also covers other cryospheric branches, and provides up-to-date information and basic concepts on relevant topics. It includes alphabetically arranged and professionally written, comprehensive and authoritative academic articles by well-known international experts in individual fields. The encyclopedia contains a broad spectrum of topics, ranging from the atmospheric processes responsible for snow formation; transformation of snow to ice and changes in their properties; classification of ice and glaciers and their worldwide distribution; glaciation and ice ages; glacier dynamics; glacier surface and subsurface characteristics; geomorphic processes and landscape formation; hydrology and sedimentary systems; permafrost degradation; hazards caused by cryospheric changes; and trends of glacier retreat on the global scale along with the impact of climate change. This book can serve as a source of reference at the undergraduate and graduate level and help to better understand snow, ice and glaciers. It will also be an indispensable tool containing specialized literature for geologists, geographers, climatologists, hydrologists, and water resources engineers; as well as for those who are engaged in the practice of agricultural and civil engineering, earth sciences, environmental sciences and engineering, ecosystem management, and other relevant subjects.

Download or read book Principles of Glacier Mechanics written by Roger LeB. Hooke and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-12-05 with total page 537 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The principles of glacier physics are developed from basic laws in this up-to-date third edition for advanced students and researchers.

Download or read book Snow and Ice Related Hazards Risks and Disasters written by and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2014-10-27 with total page 787 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Snow and Ice-Related Hazards, Risks, and Disasters provides you with the latest scientific developments in glacier surges and melting, ice shelf collapses, paleo-climate reconstruction, sea level rise, climate change implications, causality, impacts, preparedness, and mitigation. It takes a geo-scientific approach to the topic while also covering current thinking about directly related social scientific issues that can adversely affect ecosystems and global economies. Puts the contributions from expert oceanographers, geologists, geophysicists, environmental scientists, and climatologists selected by a world-renowned editorial board in your hands Presents the latest research on causality, glacial surges, ice-shelf collapses, sea level rise, climate change implications, and more Numerous tables, maps, diagrams, illustrations and photographs of hazardous processes will be included Features new insights into the implications of climate change on increased melting, collapsing, flooding, methane emissions, and sea level rise

Download or read book Recent Climate Change Impacts on Mountain Glaciers written by Mauri Pelto and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2016-11-03 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Glaciers are considered a key and an iconic indicator of climate change. The World Glacier Monitoring Service has noted that global alpine balance has been negative for 35 consecutive years. This highlights the dire future that alpine glaciers face. The goal of this volume is to tell the story, glacier by glacier, of response to climate change from 1984-2015. Of the 165 glaciers examined in 10 different alpine regions, 162 have retreated significantly. It is evident that the changes are significant, not happening at a "glacial" pace, and are profoundly affecting alpine regions. There is a consistent result that reverberates from mountain range to mountain range, which emphasizes that although regional glacier and climate feedbacks differ, global changes are driving the response. This book considers ten different glaciated regions around the individual glaciers, and offers a different tune to the same chorus of glacier volume loss in the face of climate change.

Download or read book Satellite Image Atlas of Glaciers of the World Asia U S Geological Survey Professional Paper 1386 F written by U.S. Geological Survey and published by . This book was released on 2012-11-01 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Polar Environments and Global Change written by Roger G. Barry and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-08-09 with total page 445 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Surveys atmospheric, oceanic and cryospheric processes, present and past conditions, and changes in polar environments.

Download or read book Tropical Glaciers written by Georg Kaser and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Glaciers in the tropics and their environmental consequences.