Argentina, April 05: A new study of Patagonian ice fields has revealed that mountain glaciers are now melting faster than at any other time in the past 350 years.
According to a report published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the rapid melt rate has largely contributed to global sea levels.
Researchers at Aberystwyth, Exeter and Stockholm universities mapped changes in 270 of the largest glaciers between Chile and Argentina since the “Little Ice Age”.
“Previous estimates of sea-level contribution from mountain glaciers are based on very short timescales,” said Lead author, Professor Neil Glasser of Aberystwyth University.
“They cover only the last 30 years or so when satellite images can be used to calculate rates of glacier volume change.
“We took a different approach by using a new method that allows us to look at longer timescales.”
The team studied remotely sensed images of outlet glaciers of the south and north Patagonian ice fields, and found that the glaciers had lost volume on average “10 to 100 times faster” in the past 30 years.
The northern ice field extends for nearly 200 km and covers a surface of 4,200 square km, while the southern ice field is more than 350km long, covering 13,000 square km, the state-funded BBC reported.
“Little Ice Age” happened around 1870 for the north ice field and around 1650 for the southern ice field, when they were much larger than the recent past.
“We knew that glaciers in South America were much bigger during the Little Ice Age so we mapped the extent of the glaciers at that time and calculated how much ice has been lost by the retreat and thinning of the glaciers,” explained Glasser.
“The work is significant because it is the first time anyone has made a direct estimate of the sea-level contribution from glaciers since the peak of the industrial revolution (between 1750 and 1850),” said Dr Stephen Harrison of the University of Exeter.
——–Agencies