Bergen University - 1,600 Norwegian Glaciers Will Melt Completely By 2100

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The background for this prediction comes from new calculations from the Norwegian climate programme RegClim. They have developed a new “long-term outlook” for Norway, in which they calculate that the average temperature in summer will rise by 2.3 degrees Celsius. Researchers at The Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research at the University of Bergen have estimated the consequences of this for Norwegian glaciers. They have presented the results in the most recent edition of the climate journal Cicerone. "It’s even more dramatic than we expected,” says professor Atle Nesje.

By the reckoning of the University of Bergen researchers, about 1,600 Norwegian glaciers will melt completely. This amounts to 98 percent of the total Norwegian glaciers, and includes all glaciers smaller than 8 square kilometres. Of the 34 largest glaciers, 11 will disappear completely. The total glacial volume will shrink by about a third, exactly the equivalent of Norway’s largest lake, Mjøsa. The glacial area will also shrink by a third – 2.4 times the area of Mjøsa.

"Perhaps this doesn’t sound like so much if you compare it with the difference in temperature of a cold winter day and a warm summer day. But over time, an average temperature rise of 2.3 degrees is dramatic, explains Nesje. This can be compared to the period just after the most recent ice age. The largest glaciers can disappear in less than 100 years

"From 6,000 to 8,000 years ago the average temperature was 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius higher than today. During this period, all the glaciers in Norway melted completely," he says. Researchers have determined this by analysing sediment at the bottom of lakes. As long as the water source is melted glacier, the sediment is largely made up of sand and gravel. Once the glaciers are gone, the sediment is made up exclusively of plants. Researchers have also established that once the melting begins it can proceed quickly.

EDIT

http://www.physorg.com/news63617437.html