Spain's Glaciers Diminish From 3,300 Hectares In 1890s To 390 Hectares Today - IHT

[hatrack]

SPANISH MOUNTAINS have lost nearly 90% of their glaciers in the past century, according to scientists who fear global warming will make them vanish altogether in coming years. When the French geologist Franz Schrader first measured the glaciers that capped the Pyrenees in the 1890s, he reckoned that they covered an area of 3,300 hectares. Today, glaciers cover an area of just 390 hectares, a decline of 88%.

The glacial meltdown on the south-facing Spanish side of the Pyrenees has accelerated dramatically in the last decade. Between 2002 and 2008, the Spanish Pyrenees lost about a quarter of their glacier ice, a study by Spain's environment ministry says, adding that the occasional harsh winter can do nothing to stop the dwindling rivers of ice. Glaciers formed thousands of years ago could become extinct within a generation.

advertisementEurope's most southerly glaciers are succumbing to the impact of climate change, and are set to be the first to disappear from the continent over the coming decades. Their loss will drastically reduce summer water supplies in the foothills and southern plains south of the Pyrenees. "This century could see, perhaps within a few decades, the total or almost total disappearance of the last reserves of ice in the Spanish Pyrenees, as a result a major change in the current nature of the upper reaches of the mountains," the report says.

Spanish scientists began to realise the gravity of the situation after 1978, when they started to study snow levels in the mountain peaks and measure the yearly thaws. Over the years, they came to see that the glaciers were diminishing at an alarming rate. Even harsh winters with heavy snowfalls appeared unable to stop the process, says Miguel Frances, who co-ordinated the study, which was released last month. "Last year there was a lot of snow. This stabilised the glaciers, but they did not grow. They remained the same as the year before," Dr Frances said.

EDIT

http://www.sundayherald.com/international/shinternational/display.var.2494109.0.0.php