In Bolivia, 18,000-Year-Old Chacaltaya Glacier Now Gone - Melt Was Faster Than Expected

[hatrack]

CHACALTAYA, Bolivia -- -- If anyone needs a reminder of the on-the-ground impacts of global climate change, come to the Andes mountains in Bolivia. At 17,388 feet above sea level, Chacaltaya, an 18,000 year-old glacier that delighted thousands of visitors for decades, is gone, completely melted away as of some sad, undetermined moment early this year.

''Chacaltaya has disappeared. It no longer exists,'' said Dr. Edson Ramirez, head of an international team of scientists that has studied the glacier since 1991. Chacaltaya (the name in Aymara means ''cold road'') began melting in the mid-1980s. Ramirez, the assistant director of the Institute of Hydraulics and Hydrology at the Universidad Mayor de San Andres in nearby La Paz, documented its disappearance in March. Approximately 35 miles from La Paz, it takes an hour and a half to drive the gravel and rock road up tortuous switchbacks to the top of the mountain of the same name. Visitors on a clear day -- and there are many such days -- can see the Bolivian highland plain, or altiplano, thousands of feet below, and the nearby Huayna Potosi and Illimani mountains, part of the Cordillera Real de los Andes.

Ten years ago Ramirez and his team of researchers concluded that the glacier would survive until 2015. But the rate of thaw increased threefold in the last decade, according to their studies. He believes the disappearance of Chacaltaya is an indication of the potent effects at higher elevations of the interaction of greenhouse gas accumulation and an increase in average global temperatures.

And he thinks other glaciers in the region also may be melting at a rate faster than previously known. Illimani, the colossal 21,200-foot mountain that looms over the city of La Paz and has served as the backdrop for postcard-perfect pictures since film was invented, is the home to several glaciers. They likely will melt completely within 30 years, he said.


EDIT

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/1030126.html

[XemaSab]

1. .

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. If they expect the Illimani glaciers to melt within 30 years,

count on 15.

Or less.

[kestrel91316]

3. The good thing about all these glaciers melting is, when they are gone

we won't have to waste money monitoring them anymore.

:sarcasm:

[emmadoggy]

4. "Faster Than Expected."

Imagine that.

[stuntcat]

5. .

r

[progressoid]

6. Blah blah blah. Librul clap trap.

Glenn Beck told me it's all cyclical. So there.

[Nihil]

7. K & R ...

... for another "Oops" paving the Road to Hell ...

[GliderGuider]

8. "Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out."

The Nine Billion Names of God
by Arthur C. Clarke

(...)
He knew exactly what was happening up on the mountain at this very moment. The High Lama and his assistants would be sitting in their silk robes, inspecting the sheets as the junior monks carried them away from the typewriters and pasted them into the great volumes. No one would be saying anything. The only sound would be the incessant patter, the never-ending rainstorm, of the keys hitting the paper, for the Mark V itself was utterly silent as it flashed through its thousands of calculations a second. Three months of this, thought George, was enough to start anyone climbing up the wall.

The swift night of the high Himalayas was now almost upon them. Fortunately the road was very good, as roads went in this region, and they were both carrying torches. There was not the slightest danger, only a certain discomfort from the bitter cold. The sky overhead was perfectly clear and ablaze with the familiar, friendly stars. At least there would be no risk, thought George, of the pilot being unable to take off because of weather conditions. That had been his only remaining worry.

He began to sing but gave it up after a while. This vast arena of mountains, gleaming like whitely hooded ghosts on every side, did not encourage such ebullience. Presently George glanced at his watch.

"Should be there in an hour," he called back over his shoulder to Chuck. Then he added, in an afterthought, "Wonder if the computer’s finished its run? It was due about now."

Chuck didn’t reply, so George swung round in his saddle. He could just see Chuck’s face, a white oval turned toward the sky.

"Look," whispered Chuck, and George lifted his eyes to heaven. (There is always a last time for everything.)

Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.

[hatrack]

9. LOVE that story . . . that, and "A Walk In The Dark"

:hi:

[14thColony]

10. I read that story as a kid

I still think of it sometimes. Thanks for that.

[phantom power]

11. There is always a last time for everything

[hatrack]

12. But don't forget - Rome wasn't destroyed in a day!

:toast:

[phantom power]

13. True, even in the worst case, we have... *decades*!

[JohnWxy]

14. None of the models predicted this much acceleration. That's why I say we don't have 20 yrs to wait

for 20% reduction in gasoline consumption(to comment just on the transportation part of the problem).