Global warming has already wreaked havoc on the world’s glaciers. In a new paper published in the journal Science, researchers found that nearly 40 percent of the world’s glaciers are irreversibly doomed, even if global temperatures stopped rising.
Those involved with the study determined that glaciers will soon lose 39 percent of their mass relative to 2020. That outcome, which is the best case scenario, will also push up sea levels.
If the world continues its current climate policies things will get even worse. In fact, in that case, the number will rise to 76 percent, meaning the world would be unable to stymie global warming.
That outcome would spell trouble for countries that use glacial water for everything from growing food to power, as well as those that thrive on glacier tourism.
Glaciers in the US and Canada are the most affected, as 75 percent are already predicted to melt. The Hindu Kush and Karakoram ranges, meanwhile, have more stable futures.
The study separated itself from others as it looked ahead past 2100, the previous stopping point of past research.
Researchers Speak Out About Bleak Study Findings
The study’s findings may read as devastating at first glance, but that’s the opposite of what the researchers intended. Lilian Schuster, who co-led the study, told CNN that she and her peers wanted “to give a message of hope” through their work.
“With the study, we want to show that with every tenth of a degree less of global warming, we can preserve glacier ice,” she said, with fellow co-lead Harry Zekollari adding, “We’re not activists, this is science talking.”
“Our study makes it painfully clear that every fraction of a degree matters,” Zekollari additionally told The Guardian. “The choices we make today will resonate for centuries, determining how much of our glaciers can be preserved.”
The science predicts that, the world is currently on track to warm 2.9 degrees by 2100. Each time the temperature goes up 0.1 degrees, an additional 2 percent of glacier mass will be impacted.
“Sometimes, the remarks we get is like, ‘You’re alarmist and making people scared,’” Zekollari told the first outlet. “I say, ‘I’m trying to give out what our computer numbers give us.’”
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