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Great Andean glacier 'will melt to nothing by 2012'
Times On Line ^ | February 16, 2007 | Mark Henderson

Posted on 02/16/2007 6:08:30 AM PST by Abathar

The principal glacier of the world’s biggest tropical ice-cap could disappear within five years as a result of global warming, one of the world’s leading glaciologists predicted yesterday.

The imminent demise of the Qori Kalis glacier, the main component of the Quelccaya ice cap in the Peruvian Andes, offers the starkest evidence yet of the effects of climate change, according to Lonnie Thompson, of Ohio State University.

Although scientists have known for decades that Qori Kalis and the other Quelccaya glaciers are melting, new observations indicate that the rate of retreat is increasing, Professor Thompson said. When he visits this summer, he expects to find that the glacier has halved in size since last year, and he believes that Qori Kalis will be gone within five years.

“This widespread retreat of mountain glaciers may be our clearest evidence of global warming as they integrate many climate variables,” Professor Thompson told the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in San Francisco. “Most importantly, they have no political agenda.”

The Quelccaya ice-cap, covering 17 square miles (44 sq km) in the Cordillera Oriental region of the Peruvian Andes, is the world’s largest tropical ice mass. Qori Kalis, its biggest glacier, has receded by at least 0.6 miles (1.1km) since 1963, when the first formal measurements were made from aerial photographs. The rate of retreat has increased: between 1963 and 1978, it shrank by 6.5 yards (6m) a year, a rate that has now risen tenfold to 65 yards annually.

Professor Thompson predicted six years ago that the celebrated snows of Kilimanjaro would be gone from Africa’s highest mountain by 2015, and he now thinks that that estimate may have been too conservative. He said: “Tropical glaciers are the canaries in the coalmine for our global climate system, as they integrate and respond to most of the key climatological variables — temperature, precipitation, cloudiness, humidity and radiation.”

A critical piece of evidence from almost fifty scientific expeditions to seven shrinking tropical ice-caps points to global warming as the reason for their decline. In all but one case, snowfall has increased as ice volume has fallen. More snow should mean advancing glaciers, unless rising temperatures are melting the extra precipitation and the ice tongues themselves.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: globalwarming
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To: Abathar
The world cannot change at all forever now, we must lock it in to exactly what it is and then admit that any changes are caused by soccer moms and their SUV's.

Yep. If you look at most Liberal positions they use the "static" model to prove why everybody besides them is wrong. They do it with economic issues, social issues, you name it. It is the underlying folly of virtually every argument they make. I can't for the life of me figure out why the 'Pubbies have such a hard time debating Liberals. It should be a logical slam dunk......

41 posted on 02/16/2007 7:17:35 AM PST by Thermalseeker (Just the facts, ma'am)
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To: Abathar; Killing Time; Beowulf; Mr. Peabody; Mrs. Don-o; RW_Whacko; honolulugal; SideoutFred; ...

FReepmail me to get on or off
Click on graphic for full GW rundown


42 posted on 02/16/2007 7:22:39 AM PST by xcamel (Press to Test, Release to Detonate)
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To: Abathar

Maybe if Greenpeace surrounded the glacier with boats, it won't melt.

43 posted on 02/16/2007 7:33:21 AM PST by Fintan (One of these days, Alice...)
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To: Abathar

So the United States is responsible for what happens climatologically in Peru?


44 posted on 02/16/2007 7:38:09 AM PST by lesko
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To: Abathar

Dang! I am going to have to change my vacation plans for 2013.


45 posted on 02/16/2007 7:52:13 AM PST by Yogafist
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To: Yogafist
Why? Under the thing is probably some ancient city made from gold, the Incans probably had some temple there where they prayed for warmer weather....
46 posted on 02/16/2007 7:55:15 AM PST by Abathar (Proudly catching hell for posting without reading the article since 2004)
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To: Abathar

Great Andean glacier 'will melt to nothing by 2012'

Al's working as fast as he can!


47 posted on 02/16/2007 7:58:00 AM PST by COBOL2Java ("No stronger retrograde force exists in the world" - Winston Churchill on Islam)
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To: Texas_shutterbug

Good point!


48 posted on 02/16/2007 8:00:42 AM PST by milwguy
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To: word_warrior_bob
...the right and left coasts of the U.S. go underwater. That would "kill" the democrat base....

Thanks for those encouraging words! It explains why the libs are so stirred up over global warming. Although I don't believe the global warming nonsense, this makes me want to drive my SUV all weekend.

The best rebuttal I've heard against man causing global warming was from the old liberal guy on Fox's Saturday morning round-table. When asked his thoughts on global warming he said dinosaur flatulence. With a puzzled look they asked what he meant. He said since man wasn't that's the only thing I can come up with that caused the last one.
49 posted on 02/16/2007 8:05:17 AM PST by millerph
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To: Abathar
I remember reading a newspaper article on global warming about twenty-five years ago. I was excited to think that here in Montana it would be warmer!

I for one have no regrets over melting ice!

50 posted on 02/16/2007 8:15:02 AM PST by MontanaMatt (Take out Iran while you can!)
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To: NavyCanDo
From the 1975 Newseek article posted above, quoting from a National Academy of Science report:

“Our knowledge of the mechanisms of climatic change is at least as fragmentary as our data,” concedes the National Academy of Sciences report. “Not only are the basic scientific questions largely unanswered, but in many cases we do not yet know enough to pose the key questions.”

What happened to that type of honesty from our scientists?
51 posted on 02/16/2007 1:23:30 PM PST by AaronInCarolina
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To: ChiefJayStrongbow
.. Good .. I always hated that f&%%ing glacier anyway.

I know what you're saying! That particular glacier really p***ed me off once!
52 posted on 02/16/2007 1:27:00 PM PST by AaronInCarolina
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To: Ditter
I have driven an SUV since the early 70's ~~~~~sob~~~~~~~~ I feel so guilty.

Ditter, I've been waiting for you to fess up. Your carbon footprint's probably responsible for the ozone hole. ;^)

53 posted on 02/16/2007 1:31:40 PM PST by Night Hides Not (Chuck Hagel is the Republican Joe Biden!)
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To: Bringbackthedraft

I don't know, but Greenland is getting icier and the glaciers in the western US are getting bigger.


54 posted on 02/16/2007 1:48:25 PM PST by redangus
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To: Abathar

Yes, they think that we are that stupid. Here's something from Opinion Journal that exposes the fallacy of the science on global warming as concerns Antarctia:

An Ohio State University press release, meanwhile, says that temperatures in Antarctica during the late 20th century "did not climb as had been predicted by many global climate models":

It also follows a similar finding from last summer by the same research group that showed no increase in precipitation over Antarctica in the last 50 years. Most models predict that both precipitation and temperature will increase over Antarctica with a warming of the planet.

But David Bromwich, a professor of atmospheric sciences at OSU, "said the disagreement between climate model predictions and the snowfall and temperature records doesn't necessarily mean that the models are wrong." The important thing is that they work in theory, not in practice.


55 posted on 02/16/2007 1:50:49 PM PST by Eva
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To: Abathar
Great news for citrus and avocados.... awesome simply awesome a 12 month growing season for citrus...
56 posted on 02/16/2007 1:53:10 PM PST by Porterville (Huh? You're stupid.... yeah, I knew that.)
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To: Abathar

It is an unusually cold day where I am now. Snow in the foothills surrounding the city. Nothing strange to you in the North, but in Santiago Chile! It is suppose to be like a California August. Go to www.emol.com and see a photo of folks in the snow in the hills. What have we done to Gaia to offend her?


57 posted on 02/16/2007 1:58:35 PM PST by chinche
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To: Abathar

Absolutely ! "Lynch all soccer moms !"


58 posted on 02/16/2007 3:48:07 PM PST by Kellis91789
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To: NavyCanDo

Or suppose the UN had insisted in 1979 that all countries band together to cover glaciers with soot to make them melt ?

Do you suppose they'd have taken the blame 30 years later for rising sea levels ?

Hey, maybe they did, and they are just trying to scapegoat CO2 for the melting.


59 posted on 02/16/2007 3:52:45 PM PST by Kellis91789
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To: lesko

The United States is responsible for anything that goes wrong in the entire world. Didn't you get the memo ?

That's why I've always favored taking over. If we're going to get the blame, we may as well be in charge.


60 posted on 02/16/2007 3:55:34 PM PST by Kellis91789
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