BC And Alaska Glacial Melt Runoff Annual Total = 20-30% Of Greenland Ice Sheet Annual Losses

[hatrack]

VANCOUVER -- The mountains of British Columbia cradle glaciers that have scored the landscape over millennia, shaping the rugged West Coast since long before it was the West Coast.

But they're in rapid retreat, and an American state-of-the-union report on climate change has singled out the rapid melt in British Columbia and Alaska as a major climate change issue. "Most glaciers in Alaska and British Columbia are shrinking substantially," said the U.S. National Climate Assessment, released last week to much fanfare south of the border.

"This trend is expected to continue and has implications for hydropower production, ocean circulation patterns, fisheries, and global sea level rise."

According to the report, glaciers in the region are losing 20 to 30 per cent of what is melting annually from the Greenland Ice Sheet, which has received far more worldwide attention. That amounts to about 40 to 70 gigatons per year, or about 10 per cent of the annual discharge of the Mississippi River.

EDIT

http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/unprecedented-melt-of-b-c-glaciers-adding-to-u-s-climate-change-concerns-1.1827072

[randys1]

1. I dont understand the details, I just know it is real bad

[chervilant]

3. And, it's likely that the

current positive feedback loops will hasten the melting of these glaciers, the Greenland ice cap, and the polar ice caps -- which means that our current younglings will contend with the radical shrinkage of our densely populated coastlines.

[Squinch]

2. Kick