Thursday, August 12, 2010

Evidence of the effect of Global Warming on Glaciers

Due to the effects of global warming, we all know that glaciers are highly affected by this global issue. Recently, a piece of the Petermann glacier in Greenland has broken off from the glacier, and it is said to be the biggest collapse of a glacier in recorded history. The Petermann glacier is located 620 miles south of North Pole, and was 43 miles long before the collapse. The ice chunk that has broken off (a satellite image shown in the article) has been nicknamed the "ice island". It is four times bigger than Manhattan, covering a hundred square miles, and said to be able to provide enough water for U.S. public tap water for 120 days. This is not the first known large glacial breakaway, as there was another huge ice chunk that also broke off off the Petermann glacier in 1962. Scientists are not sure however, if this new "ice island" is larger than the previous glacier collapse.


This article is related to science concept because a huge chunk of a glacier has broken off from it's original piece, and this is evidence that the world is slowly changing due to global warming. A glacier collapse could affect the environment around it, and possibly even ocean levels.


We should care for this matter, because this an example of the things that will happen as a result of global warming. Humans should be the ones to blame too, because we are only contributing more and more to global warming and putting the Earth into more danger. Just as stated before, huge ice chunks breaking off off glaciers could mean ocean levels rising, and higher ocean levels can result in a devastating ending, such as cities and land that are below sea level for example.


Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/100806-ice-chunk-island-greenland-glacier-petermann-biggest-science/

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