On July 3 this year, in the Marmorada mountains of the northern Italian Alps, a thrilling and tragic disaster struck without warning. A glacier on a high mountain collapses without warning, and a huge block of ice rushes down with thousands of forces, roaring like a beast. The disaster broke the quiet of the mountain in an instant, as of press time, behind the cold figures are countless broken families - at least 7 people lost their precious lives, many others were injured, and even many people are missing, and their relatives are anxiously waiting for news of their safe return. After rigorous analysis and research, experts pointed out that the ice collapse event is likely to be inextricably linked to the extreme high temperature weather that Italy has recently experienced.
The main peak of Marmorada rises to 3,343 meters above sea level. In the past normal year, the temperature on the top of the mountain is below zero degrees Celsius, and this cold climate conditions are like creating a solid "fortress" for the glacier, so that the glacier can survive in this white world. Recently, however, things have changed dramatically. Sea level temperatures in the Veneto region rocketed out of control, soaring to 40 degrees Celsius, even at the top of the mountain, rising to around 10 degrees Celsius. For the glacier that has been "living" in a low temperature environment, this sudden high temperature is like a deadly "fire storm", which will push it step by step to the abyss of melting.
In fact, the collapse in Italy is just the tip of the iceberg of the global ice crisis. In the context of global warming, the vast majority of glaciers are quietly undergoing heart-wrenching changes. Glaciers, as nature's most sensitive "climate recorders", are unusually sensitive to climate change. It is like a "barometer" of the Earth's environment, and every slight fluctuation of climate change can be clearly and intuitively reflected in the state of the glacier.
When we look at the world, we will find that the phenomenon of glacier melting has been common. The Greenland ice Sheet, the world's largest non-polar ice sheet, is melting at an alarming rate. According to relevant scientific studies, the melting rate of the Greenland ice sheet has increased exponentially in recent years. In 2020 alone, the Greenland ice sheet injected about 380 billion tons of meltwater into the ocean, a figure equivalent to about 150,000 West Lakes, and such a large amount of meltwater into the ocean is undoubtedly having a significant impact on global sea level rise.
In South America, the glaciers of the Andes are also struggling. As temperatures continue to rise and precipitation patterns change, these once-majestic glaciers are retreating. In the past few decades, the area of many glaciers has shrunk by more than half, and the continuous and magnificent glacier landscape of the past is gradually disappearing from people's view, leaving only a barren and vicissitudes.
There is a tight and dangerous vicious circle between melting glaciers and climate change. At its root, global warming is the main culprit behind the melting of glaciers. A large number of greenhouse gases emitted by human activities, such as carbon dioxide, methane, etc., continue to accumulate in the atmosphere, forming a thick layer of "greenhouse quilt", making it difficult to dissipate heat from the Earth's surface, resulting in a continuous rise in global temperatures. Since the Industrial Revolution, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the global atmosphere has risen by about 40%, which is a worrying statistic.
On the other hand, the melting of glaciers has further exacerbated climate warming. The surface of the glacier is as white as snow and is able to reflect large amounts of solar radiation, acting like a giant mirror, reflecting the sun's heat back into space. As the glaciers continue to melt, the surface's ability to reflect solar radiation is greatly reduced, absorbing more and more heat, and accelerating the process of global warming. According to research, every 10% reduction in glacier area, the Earth's surface will absorb about 5% more solar radiation heat, which is undoubtedly a danger signal.
Faced with the increasingly severe problem of glacier melting, human beings did not sit idly by, but actively used the power of science and technology to launch a series of protection actions. In some areas, scientists are experimenting imaginatively with "quilting" glaciers. They lay a special insulation material, which is usually made of multiple layers of high-performance fibers and special polymers with extremely low thermal conductivity. It is like wearing a layer of thermal clothing on the glacier, which can effectively reduce the absorption of heat on the surface of the glacier, thereby slowing the rate of melting of the glacier. In some mountains in Switzerland, this method has reduced the melting rate of some glaciers by about 30 percent in a single summer, with remarkable results.
In other places, artificial snowfall technology is used to spread special catalysts into the clouds to promote the water vapor in the clouds to condense into snowflakes, increase the amount of snow in the glacier, and supplement the "energy" for the glacier. In some mountainous areas of Japan, after long-term experiments and exploration, researchers have successfully used silver iodide as a catalyst to achieve artificial snowfall under suitable meteorological conditions, which has brought new hope for local glacier protection.
The effects of melting ice are pervasive and far-reaching. Not only will it cause sea levels to rise, it will put many coastal areas at risk of being inundated and millions of people will lose their homes. It is predicted that if the world's glaciers continue to melt at the current rate, sea levels could rise by 0.5 to 1.5 meters by 2100, putting many island nations and coastal cities at risk of extinction. The melting of glaciers will also affect the distribution of global water resources and cause extreme climate events such as droughts and floods, which will have a huge impact on human production and life. In some regions that rely on meltwater from glaciers, water shortages are becoming more serious due to the accelerated melting of glaciers, which has greatly affected agricultural irrigation and residential water use.
The alarm bell of glacier melting has sounded, and it concerns the future of every one of us. We can no longer turn a blind eye to this problem, and everyone should take action to reduce energy consumption and practice a green lifestyle in daily life, and contribute to the mitigation of global warming. Only in this way can we protect these precious glacier resources on the earth and protect our common home.
(Editer：admin)
