glaciers (Page 4)

A new study shows that glaciers in Alaska are melting evenfaster than we thought. Anthony Arendt of the University ofAlaska used laser altimetry to measure the changes in volumeof 67 Alaskanglaciers over four decades. “Glaciers in Alaska seem to bethinning from the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s,” he says. Therate of thinning doubled between the mid-1990s and 2001.

“We know that the climate has had to change for that tohappen,” Arendt says. “Whether or not these changes inclimate are due to human influences, that?s not for us tosay, but it?s possible that it is linked to a larger-scalechange in global climate caused by human activity.”
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Pakistan has such a desperate drought that it is considering melting glaciers in order to get water. The government has asked the national weather office to look into the possibility of melting the glaciers in the northern mountains of the country.

“We have not yet completed our study, but we have now gathered that, yes, practically maybe, it can be done by spraying some black carbon on the snow, the glaciers,” says Qamar-Uz-Zaman Chaudhry, director general of themeteorological office. “They will absorb more radiation and the snow melt can be increased 10 or 15 percent.”
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