Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Wednesday 10 april 2019
Global warming is shrinking glaciers faster than thought

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Sci- glacier melt is a bigger
ence Writer contributor than thought,
WASHINGTON (AP) — responsible for about 25%
Earth's glaciers are melting to 30% of the yearly rise in
much faster than scien- oceans, Zemp said.
tists thought. A new study Rising seas threaten coastal
shows they are losing 369 cities around the world and
billion tons of snow and ice put more people at risk of
each year, more than half flooding during storms.
of that in North America. Glaciers grow in winter and
The most comprehensive shrink in summer, but as the
measurement of glaciers Earth has warmed, they are
worldwide found that thou- growing less and shrinking
sands of inland masses of more. Zemp said warmer
snow compressed into ice summer temperatures are
are shrinking 18 percent the main reason glaciers
faster than an international are shrinking faster.
panel of scientists calculat- While people think of gla-
ed in 2013. ciers as polar issues, shrink-
The world's glaciers are ing mountain glaciers
shrinking five times faster closer to the equator can
now than they were in the cause serious problems for
1960s. Their melt is acceler- people who depend on
ating due to global warm- them, said Twila Moon, a
ing, and adding more wa- snow and ice data center
ter to already rising seas, This Sept. 22, 2018 file photo shows the Baishui Glacier No.1 on the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in scientist who also wasn't
the study found. the southern province of Yunnan in China. part of the study. She said
"Over 30 years suddenly al- Associated Press people in the Andes, for ex-
most all regions started los- ample, rely on the glaciers
ing mass at the same time," year, according to a study Since 1961, the world has ing Greenland and Antarc- for drinking and irrigation
said lead author Michael in Monday's journal Nature lost 10.6 trillion tons of ice tica. water each summer.
Zemp, director of the World . and snow (9.6 trillion met- This study, "is telling us there's A separate study Monday
Glacier Monitoring Service "In these regions, at the cur- ric tons), the study found. much more to the story," in Environmental Research
at the University of Zur- rent glacier loss rate, the That's enough to cover the said Mark Serreze, director Letters confirmed faster
ich. "That's clearly climate glaciers will not survive the lower 48 U.S. states in about of the National Snow and melting and other changes
change if you look at the century," Zemp said. 4 feet of ice. Ice Data Center in Boulder, in the Arctic. It found that in
global picture." Zemp's team used ground Scientists have known for Colorado, who wasn't part winter, the Arctic is warm-
The glaciers shrinking fast- and satellite measurements a long time that global of the study. "The influence ing 2.8 times faster than the
est are in central Europe, to look at 19,000 glaciers, warming caused by hu- of glaciers on sea level is rest of the Northern Hemi-
the Caucasus region, west- far more than previous man activities like burning bigger than we thought." sphere. Overall, the region
ern Canada, the U.S. Lower studies. They determined coal, gasoline and diesel A number of factors are is getting more humid,
48 states, New Zealand and that southwestern Asia is for electricity and transpor- making sea levels rise. cloudier and wetter. "It's on
near the tropics. Glaciers the only region of 19 where tation is making Earth lose The biggest cause is that steroids, it's hyperactive,"
in these places on aver- glaciers are not shrinking, its ice. They have been es- oceans are getting warm- said lead author Jason Box,
age are losing more than 1 which Zemp said is due to pecially concerned with er, which makes water ex- a scientist for the Danish
percent of their mass each local climate conditions. the large ice sheets cover- pand. The new figures show Meteorological Institute.q

Spacewalking astronauts

tackle battery, cable work

By MARCIA DUNN cursion drew to a close. met. The change to her
AP Aerospace Writer "We know that it's a lot of visor was noticeable in
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) hard work and a lot of big the last 15 minutes of the
Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques, right, and NASA as-
tronaut Anne McClain take part in a spacewalk as seen in the — Spacewalking astro- sighs of relief as soon as this spacewalk, she noted.
live feed from the Canadian Space Agency headquarters in St. nauts completed battery hatch gets closed," Mc- NASA is wary about mois-
Hubert, Quebec, Monday, April 8, 2019. and cable work outside the Clain said once the pair ture inside helmets ever
Associated Press International Space Station were inside the air lock. since an Italian astronaut
on Monday despite com- Within moments, the almost drowned during a
munication trouble that spacewalkers could barely spacewalk nearly six years
sometimes made it hard for hear their colleagues over ago because of a water
them to hear. the radio loop. They had to leak in his suit. McClain in-
During the spacewalk, Ca- shout and repeat words at sisted she wasn't wet, and
nadian astronaut David times, as did the astronauts that the moisture was mini-
Saint-Jacques reported on the other side of the mal. A crewmate later not-
that U.S. astronaut Anne hatch. ed perspiration.
McClain's voice was faint McClain, meanwhile, re- The ongoing battery work
at times. The problem wors- ported having a thin layer involved re-installing two
ened as their 6 ½-hour ex- of moisture inside her hel- old batteries. q