According to NASA, the thickest glacier in the world is currently melting as a result of climate change.
The Taku Glacier located in Taku inlet of Alaska is the deepest and thickest glacier of the world measuring a maximum depth of almost 1500 meters and a length of about 58 kilometers. The glacier advanced 7.3 kilometers since the late 19th century, despite some glaciers nearby shrunk during this period, but it has now begun to retreat due to high temperatures recorded in the wider region.
NASA glaciologists are studying the changes in the thickness of Taku’s glacier since 1946 as part of Juneau Icefield Research Program (JIRP). Scientists utilized modern technological means including GPS field mapping, satellite images and aerial photography and found out that Taku has lost a significant amount of its volume and it has joined the course of the other glaciers.
To define whether a glacier is advancing or retreating, the research team examines the transient snow line which is the position where glacial ice appears. A glacier gains and losses mass from snow and melting, respectively. Depending on the mass change, the transient snow line changes its position, a fact that enables scientists to study the relative displacements.
By comparing photographs captured in August 2014 and August 2018, evidence showed that the glacier has begun moving backwards. The findings are rather alarming since, according to predictions, the glacier should be advancing for the next 80 years. Dr. Mauri Pelto, a Professor of Environmental Science at Nichols College and the director of the North Cascades Glacier Climate Project who investigates the glaciers’ response all over the world and has been studying Taku for more than 3 decades, said that this is a symbolic defeat in the effort to address climate change. Out of the 250 alpine glaciers Dr. Pelto has studied, Taku was the only one that had not begun to retreat. “This is a big deal for me because I had this one glacier I could hold on to. But not anymore. This makes the score climate change: 250 and alpine glaciers: 0,” he stated.
According to Dr. Pelto, the natural course of the glacier is affected by climate change. Eventually, the glacier would stop advancing and begin to retreat but this would happen after a long period (decades) of stability. "To be able to have the transition take place so fast indicates that climate is overriding the natural cycle of advance and retreat that the glacier would normally be going through," Dr. Pelto, concluded.
Sources: NASA, Livescience
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