The speed of ice loss from glaciers around the world has increased over the last ten years, scientists said on Wednesday. At the same time they warned that The speed of their loss may be higher than originally expected to cause the water to climb. TASR reports on the basis of AFP report.
Glaciers around the world are fresh water stores for billions of people around the world and an important climate controller. However, the rising temperature of the planet causes them to melt more quickly.
The International Team of Scientists from the United Kingdom and Switzerland revealed a sharp increase in their melting over the past decade – over 2012 to 2023, 36 percent more ice melted than in 2012 to 2023, writes AFP. On average, 273 billion tons of ice melt per year. According to scientists, this amount would cover global water consumption for 30 years.
Taking into account the worldwide temperature increase caused by greenhouse gas emissions, the results of the first global evaluation of its kind are “shocking” but not completely unexpected, It is presented by Michael Zemp from the University of Zurich. The Zemp is a co -author of a study published in the scientific journal Nature.
According to scientists, about five percent of the volume has lost glaciers worldwide since the turn of the millennium. However, the loss is not even and there are significant differences between the areas – the glaciers in Antarctica lost only about two percent of the volume, the Alpine glaciers have reduced by up to 40 percent, the authors of the study report.
The fastest is losing ice from smaller glaciers and many will disappear in this century, adds the Zemp, which is also the head of the World Center for Monitoring Glaciers (WGMS). According to the scientist it It will also affect the availability of fresh water, according to him, it will be felt by the inhabitants of Central Asia and the middle Andes.
Glaciers are the second largest cause of seas levels. The biggest cause is its expansion caused by an increase in its temperature. An increase in the water level by two centimeters, which has been caused by glaciers since 2000, it is estimated that the floods are threatened by another four million people living on the coast. In January, the United Nations described the saving of glaciers as a “survival strategy” important to the planet.
