Why 1,600 years of ice melting in 25 years is a bad omen

<div id="mediaarticlebody"><p>A glacier in <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1365199944689_6">Peru</span> has melted to levels not seen since the end of the last ice age</p><p class="first">Ice that took 1,600 years to form in the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1365199944689_7">Peruvian Andes</span> took only 25 years to disappear, according to a new study <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com?key=11fe087258b6fc0532a5ccfc924805c0&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencemag.org%2Fcontent%2Fearly%2F2013%2F04%2F03%2Fscience.1234210" rel="nofollow">published in <em>Science</em></a>.</p><p><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1365199944689_1">Lonnie G. Thompson</span>, a glaciologist at <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1365199944689_3">Ohio State University</span>, studied plants that had been recently exposed near Quelccaya, the world's largest <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1365199944689_2">tropical ice sheet</span>, located 18,000 feet above sea level. Analysis of the plants showed that the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1365199944689_8">ice cap</span> is smaller than it has been for six thousand years.</p><p><a href="http://redirect.viglink.com?key=11fe087258b6fc0532a5ccfc924805c0&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Farticle%2Findex%2F242398%2Fcould-the-nfl-soon-have-its-first-openly-gay-players" rel="nofollow">SEE MORE: Could the NFL soon have its first openly gay players?</a></p><p>Ultimately, Thompson was able to figure out that 1,600 years worth of ice had melted in less than three decades. The culprit? <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1365199944689_5">Global warming</span>, scientists told the <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com?key=11fe087258b6fc0532a5ccfc924805c0&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2013%2F04%2F05%2Fworld%2Famericas%2F1600-years-of-ice-in-perus-andes-melted-in-25-years-scientists-say.html%3Fpagewanted%3Dall" rel="nofollow"><em>New York Times</em></a>:</p><p>[T]he melting now under way appears to be at least as fast, if not faster, than anything in the geological record since the end of the last ice age ...</p><p>Global warming, which scientists say is being caused primarily by the human release of greenhouse gases, is having its largest effects at high latitudes and high altitudes. Sitting at high elevation in the tropics, the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1365199944689_4">Quelccaya ice cap</span> appears to be extremely sensitive to the temperature changes, several scientists said. [<a href="http://redirect.viglink.com?key=11fe087258b6fc0532a5ccfc924805c0&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2013%2F04%2F05%2Fworld%2Famericas%2F1600-years-of-ice-in-perus-andes-melted-in-25-years-scientists-say.html%3Fpagewanted%3Dall" rel="nofollow"><em>New York Times</em></a>]</p>The glacier is melting so quickly, Thompson tells <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com?key=11fe087258b6fc0532a5ccfc924805c0&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fsciencetech%2Farticle-2304650%2FThe-Andes-glacier-took-1-600-years-form--melted-just-25.html" rel="nofollow"><em>The Daily Mail</em></a>, that he has had to archive some of the ice "at -30ºC so that creative people will have access to it 20 years from now, using instruments and techniques that don't even exist today."<p><a href="http://redirect.viglink.com?key=11fe087258b6fc0532a5ccfc924805c0&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Farticle%2Findex%2F242305%2Fgirls-on-film-why-agatha-christie-is-ready-for-a-hollywood-revival" rel="nofollow">SEE MORE: Girls on Film: Why Agatha Christie is ready for a Hollywood revival</a></p><p>That Peru's glaciers are melting isn't a surprise. <em>Public Radio International</em> <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com?key=11fe087258b6fc0532a5ccfc924805c0&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theworld.org%2F2012%2F09%2Fsawdust-peru-glaciers%2F" rel="nofollow">published a story last year</a> about a team of scientists who are doing everything — from covering ice in sawdust, to painting black rocks white to deflect heat — to slow the melting of Peru's glaciers. According to glaciologist Benjamin Morales, the glaciers have lost at least 25 percent of their ice.</p><p>The melting of the glaciers could have a dramatic impact on Peruvians. According <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com?key=11fe087258b6fc0532a5ccfc924805c0&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com%2Farticle%2F2013%2F04%2F04%2Fus-peru-water-idUSBRE9330QT20130404" rel="nofollow">to <em>Reuters</em></a>, the "coastal region west of the Andes range, home to two-thirds of Peru's population and 80 percent of economic activity, receives just 2 percent of the country's fresh water." Many people in the dry regions of Peru depend on the glaciers for fresh water, which is so scarce that the country is considering a $500 million project to drill a 12-mile tunnel through the Andes to bring in water from the Amazon basin.</p><p><a href="http://redirect.viglink.com?key=11fe087258b6fc0532a5ccfc924805c0&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Farticle%2Findex%2F242396%2Fthe-weeks-best-of-the-internet" rel="nofollow">SEE MORE: The week's best of the internet</a></p><p>"How much time do we have before 50 percent of Lima's or La Paz's water resources are gone?" researcher Douglas R. Hardy asks<a href="http://redirect.viglink.com?key=11fe087258b6fc0532a5ccfc924805c0&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2013%2F04%2F05%2Fworld%2Famericas%2F1600-years-of-ice-in-perus-andes-melted-in-25-years-scientists-say.html%3Fpagewanted%3Dall" rel="nofollow"> the <em>New York Times</em></a>.</p><p>Sadly, there probably isn't enough sawdust to cover all the mountains in the Andes.</p><p><a href="http://redirect.viglink.com?key=11fe087258b6fc0532a5ccfc924805c0&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Farticle%2Findex%2F242388%2Fthe-rutgers-basketball-abuse-scandal-will-more-officials-get-the-ax" rel="nofollow">SEE MORE: The Rutgers basketball abuse scandal: Will more officials get the ax?</a></p><p>View this article on <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com?key=11fe087258b6fc0532a5ccfc924805c0&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Farticle%2Findex%2F242394%2Fwhy-1600-years-of-ice-melting-in-25-years-is-a-bad-omen" rel="nofollow">TheWeek.com</a> Get <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com?key=11fe087258b6fc0532a5ccfc924805c0&u=https%3A%2F%2Fsecure.palmcoastd.com%2Fpcd%2FeSv%3FiMagId%3D061DG%26amp%3Bi4Ky%3DIYAH" rel="nofollow">4 Free</a> Issues of The Week</p><p>Other stories from this section:</p><ul><li><a href="http://redirect.viglink.com?key=11fe087258b6fc0532a5ccfc924805c0&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Farticle%2Findex%2F240357%2Fwhy-obama-wants-to-map-the-human-brain" rel="nofollow">Why Obama wants to map the human brain</a></li><li><a href="http://redirect.viglink.com?key=11fe087258b6fc0532a5ccfc924805c0&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Farticle%2Findex%2F240276%2Frussias-massive-meteorite-by-the-numbers" rel="nofollow">Russia's massive meteorite: By the numbers</a></li><li><a href="http://redirect.viglink.com?key=11fe087258b6fc0532a5ccfc924805c0&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Farticle%2Findex%2F240228%2Feverything-you-need-to-know-about-meteor-strikes" rel="nofollow">Everything you need to know about meteor strikes</a></li></ul><a href="http://redirect.viglink.com?key=11fe087258b6fc0532a5ccfc924805c0&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Ftheweek" rel="nofollow">Like on Facebook</a> - <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com?key=11fe087258b6fc0532a5ccfc924805c0&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.twitter.com%2Ftheweek" rel="nofollow">Follow on Twitter</a> - <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com?key=11fe087258b6fc0532a5ccfc924805c0&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Fhome%2Fnewsletter" rel="nofollow">Sign-up for Daily Newsletter</a></div><img border="0" height="1" src="http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-89EKCgBk8MZdE.gif" width="1" /><br /><p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/why-1-600-years-ice-melting-25-years-180000961.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">View the original article here</a></p>

Why 1,600 years of ice melting in 25 years is a bad omen

A glacier in Peru has melted to levels not seen since the end of the last ice age Ice that took 1,600 years to form in the Peruvian Andes ...

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