Glaciers may vanish from Alps by 2050

AP on Yahoo ^ | 1/22/07

[NormsRevenge]

VIENNA, Austria - Most glaciers will disappear from the Alps by 2050, scientists told a conference on climate change Monday, basing their bleak outlook on evidence of slow but steady melting of the region's continental ice sheets.

Glaciers in western Austria's Alpine province of Tyrol have been shrinking by about 3 percent a year, meaning their mass decreases annually by roughly 3 feet, said Roland Psenner of the University of Innsbruck's Institute for Ecology.

The average density of glaciers in the Alps is 100 feet, "so it seems rather certain that there won't be any more glaciers in the year 2050 except for a few high ones that lay above 4,000 meters (13,000 feet)," Psenner said.

"The future looks rather liquid," he said.

Experts stopped short of blaming global warming, but called for a review of preventive measures to protect people living in Alpine valleys who could face a higher risk of flooding.

[NormsRevenge]

Marc Olefs and Andrea Fischer, from left, researchers from Innsbruck University, check a field covered with white polyethylene against the backdrop of jagged peaks, at Eisgrat (Ice Spine) skiing station on Stubai glacier near the village of Neustift-im-Stubaital, in this July 4, 2005 file photo. Most glaciers will disappear from the Alps by 2050, scientists told a conference on climate change Monday, Jan. 22, 2007, basing their bleak outlook on evidence of slow but steady melting of the region's continental ice sheets. (AP Photo/George Jahn, File)

[NormsRevenge]

Save the Whales Glaciers

[mewzilla]

Oh, fer cryin' out loud. These people can't even get a 10-day forecast right!

[george76]

Exactly why is the worlds biggest polluter allowed to sign Kyoto but is completely free of all aspects of the Kyoto protocol and its wealth transfer scheme, is it because they are Communists?

[NormsRevenge]

A runner passes an activist protesting US President George W. Bush's withdrawal of support for the Kyoto Protocol in 2005. The battle over global warming is heating up, Bush refusing to limit greenhouse gas emissions despite growing pressure from the Democrat-led Congress and around the world.(AFP/File/Brendan Smialowski)

[MarkeyD]

It's not so much that they are melting as it is that weather patterns have changed so that it is not snowing as much.

[NormsRevenge]

The 'Doomsday Clock' in a file photo. The scientists who mind the Doomsday Clock on Wednesday moved it two minutes closer to midnight -- symbolizing the annihilation of civilization -- adding the perils of global warming for the first time to acute nuclear threats. (File/Reuters)

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

"Glaciers in western Austria's Alpine province of Tyrol have been shrinking by about 3 percent a year, meaning their mass decreases annually by roughly 3 feet,...."

When did "feet" become a unit of mass?

[ElkGroveDan]

Why don't the Austrians take back this guy and have him take care of it?

[Izzy Dunne]

The average density of glaciers in the Alps is 100 feet,

The average speed of a dog is over 50 millimeters.

[SlowBoat407]

...a review of preventive measures to protect people living in Alpine valleys who could face a higher risk of flooding.

Move.

[NormsRevenge]

Thnaks!

I guess St Bernard rescue dogs will be out of work for the most part by then.

[Izzy Dunne]

their mass decreases annually by roughly 3 feet

While their depth increases by over four pounds!

[joebuck]

Right where I am currently sitting (Indianapolis) there was a giant glacier thousands of years ago. It also disappeared. Life goes on.

[ElkGroveDan]

California Freeze Puts Squeeze on Citrus Crop
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[Patrick1]

"May Vanish" These enviro wackos sure are certain about their religion.

[DUH]

Huge Planet ... little people

oh heck! ... they'll never get it! ... ... until one day

[ElkGroveDan]

Would you rather walk to school, or carry your lunch?

[staytrue]

is it because they are Communists?

You are an idiot aren't you ? China is totalitarian but definitely not communists. Communism does not allow billionaires and china has more than any country ( of course they have more people than any country). Further the largest emmitter of man made co2 is the good old USA, not china.