Glaciers? Why Bother?

AIM: To be able to understand the importance of glaciers and their place in education.

SETTING THE SCENE

Based in the UK the nearest we can get to a glacier, without actually travelling anywhere, is through a photograph or on a map (See distribution map in Figure 1). Begging the question as to why it is important that we study them if we are miles away from the nearest one? The answer being because glaciers hold so much power that they have; shaped our modern world, carved out our landscape and driven our planets climate. Oh, and just the small matter of them affecting the path of human evolution.

Figure 1: Map showing the distribution of glaciers around the globe, which emphasises the lack of proximity the UK holds to one. 96% Antarctica and Greenland. Taken from Prof. Fiona Tweed’s Glacier Lecture and http://nsidc.org/glims/

 

THE PAST- HOW GLACIERS HAVE AFFECTED US:

• LANDSCAPE: Glacial landscapes and valleys can be seen worldwide, from the Scottish Highlands to New York City they have helped to provide the foundations for some of our famous scenes.

• HUMAN EVOLUTION: Fossils found in South Africa illustrate that 3 million years ago there was two great evolutionary leaps forward. These rapid changes tie in with the two advances of the ice sheet. The two leaps include the first being man with a 60% larger brain than before and the second were capable of making stone tools that survived the destabilised climate.

ICE ADVANCE = MORE ICE COVER = MORE SUN REFLECTED = EXTREME CHAOTIC CLIMATE

GLACIAL SHRINKING: THE FACTS:

• 10% of land is covered by glaciers, with a further 10% permanently frozen 
• 75% of the worlds fresh water is stored in glaciers
• A rise of 4°C would cause all ice to melt
• If all ice melted, sea level would rise by 70m
• Mountain glaciers worldwide have a net loss of over 4000 cubic km since 1960s

SO WHY DOES THIS AFFECT THE WORLD?

• FRESH WATER: More than half of humanity relies on the already limited resource freshwater, that accumulates in Mountains

• AGRICULTURE: Glaciers provide water irrigation for a host of communities within their environments, aiding a food supply to many

• DRINKING WATER RESOURCE: Very often is provides the only source of water for humans and biodiversity during dry seasons and the melting of glaciers would lead to water shortages for 500 million people

• HAZARDS: Continuing widespread melting of glaciers will lead to floods and avalanches

• SEA LEVEL RISE: Sea-level rise will affect coastal regions throughout the world, causing flooding, erosion, and saltwater intrusion into aquifers and freshwater habitat.

• CLIMATE CHANGE: Less ice cover = less heat reflected = hotter climates

SO WHY DOES THIS AFFECT US?

So we may not live next to a Glacier but we are still affected by them !

• The world is interconnected and we currently rely on trade imports from around the globe. If Glaciers continue to melt and rise sea levels it causes flooding and mass migration. These in turn can devestate producing regions and the products we import. Can you imagine a life without McDonalds, the latest nike trainers or Ipods - Interested now huh?
• Like going on holiday? Well places like Venice that are low lying and also built on unstable subsiding marshland and suffering from floods annually may become a thing of the past. The city has already lost 23cm to the sea since 1900 and attracts 7 million visitors each year. Everyone to Skeggy then!
• You may get a 'Climate Change Refugee' as a neighbour! These are the people who are forced to emigrate from their home countries as they become unihabitable (Estimated 200 million people to be rehoused).
  

IN PRACTICE: This information could be used as part of an introductory lesson on Glaciers. The importance of glaciers and why there is a need to learn about them needs to be expressed so even though students may not be in close proximity to a glacier, they know why they are being taught about them so they are less resilient to co operate in lessons.

Video Clip: Shrinking Glaciers

Taken from Dr. Iain Stewart's Earth: The Power of The Planet, the above clip provides a visual aid into the melting of glaciers.

REFERENCES:

Combs, S. Prentice, M. Hansen, L & Rosentrater, L. (2005) “Going, Going, Gone! Climate Change & Global Glacier Decline” WWF International, Germany.

Hoffman, D (2009) “Himalayan Glaciers not melting” The Resilient Earth. Available at www.theresilientearth.com [Accessed Online 01/07/2011]

Knight, P (1999) Glaciers. Stanley Thornes Publishers Ltd, Cheltenham.

NSIDC “GLIMS at NSIDC- Glacial Distribution Map” Available at http://nsidc.org/glims/, [Accessed Online 01/07/2011]

QWICKSTEP (2010) “Map of Himalayan Region” Available at www.qwickstep.eu [Accessed Online 01/07/2011]

Stewart, I (2007) Video clip “Shrinking Glaciers” from Episode “Ice” from Series “Earth: The Power of the Planet” Available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gbg92 [Accessed Online 01/07/2011]

WWF Nepal Programme (2005) “An Overview of Glaciers, Glacier Retreat, and Subsequent Impacts in Nepal, India and China” WWF International, Germany.