Yosemite Glacier Shrinks By 60 Percent, Accelerated By Global Warming
(MintPress) – The iconic Lyell Glacier in Yosemite National Park is shrinking at an unprecedented rate, according to recent geological reports. “It appears to have stagnated, and we strongly suspect that it has thinned to less than half the size that would keep it moving,” said Greg Stock, Yosemite National Park’s geologist in a recent statement.
Declared a protected National Park in 1864, Yosemite is home to 1,200 square miles of land for the public to enjoy.
With more than 3 million visitors each year, the park provides many Californians living in large cities a relatively close escape from urban dwelling. However, the rapid ice melt could put an end to one of Yosemite’s more iconic attractions.
Since 1900, researchers have found that the glacier has shrunk by more than 60 percent, an astonishing decline for one of the tallest glaciers in the High Sierra Nevada mountain range.
Stock, one of the leading researchers monitoring Lyell Glacier observes that “the most logical reason for the shrinking is because of more loss from melting snow as the climate warms.”
This observation is in keeping with a global trend indicating the retreat of glaciers as temperatures rise. Indeed, polar ice caps have melted faster in the last 20 years than in the last 10,000, a dramatic consequence of global warming.
This point is confirmed by other top researchers, monitoring and observing the devastating effects of anthropomorphic global warming.
“Global sea levels are rising, dark meltwater pools absorb warmth from the sun which white ice would reflect back into space. Freshwater flows into the sea, changing ocean currents and the living conditions for marine organisms,” writes Irene Quaile.
Quaile is a contributor for the German publication Deutsche Welle (DW) and hosts DW’s award-winning weekly environment program “Living Planet.”
Using an incontrovertible set of data, more than 97 percent of the top climatologists worldwide have determined that the earth’s temperature is rising to unsafe levels, largely because of human carbon emissions.
A recent Stanford University survey found that among the top climatologists, a mere 2.5 percent dissented with the notion that global warming is manmade. Commenting on the findings of the survey, researcher William Anderegg said:
“When you look at the leading scientists who have made any sort of statement about anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change, you find 97 percent of those top 100 surveyed scientists explicitly agreeing with or endorsing the IPCC’s assessment,” he said.
However, this has not slowed the attacks by conservative lawmakers, funded by the oil and gas lobby in Washington. Groups funding climate change denial include the Heartland Institute, a conservative interest group hosting an annual “climate change denial conference.”
The group reportedly receives funding from oil and gas lobbies and the Koch brothers.
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