Weather-Related

NASA has released what it calls the “coolest, most illustrative video” of its kind ever.  The video shows stunning new images of earth, highlighting climate changes and how the weather in one part of the planet impacts the rest of us. 

The cryosphere is the part of the Earth’s surface where water is found in solid form.  This includes areas of snow, sea ice, glaciers, permafrost, ice sheets and icebergs.  In these areas, surface temperatures remain below freezing for a portion of each year.  Since ice and snow exist relatively close to their melting point, they frequently change from solid to liquid and back again due to fluctuations in surface temperature. 

Although direct measurements of the cryosphere are often difficult due to remote locations of these areas, scientists can use satellites to monitor changes in the global and regional climate by observing how regions of the Earth’s cryosphere shrink and expand.

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A 2003 study predicted that glaciers will disappear from Glacier National Park by 2030.  But because temperatures are warming even faster than just a few years ago, glaciers are now expected to disappear by 2020.

Glaciers are created when snow doesn’t completely melt in summer and over time is compacted into ice.  To be classified as a glacier, an ice field must be at least 25 acres, moving, and sculpting the landscape.

In 1900, there were about 150 glaciers in what is now Glacier National Park.  Today only 25 glaciers remain.

Although the quantity and size of glaciers have been decreasing over the past century, glaciers are now shrinking four times as fast as they were in the 1960s.  The reason is warmer climate.  Although Glacier National Park is colder than many other parts of the world, temperatures in the park have increased three times as fast as average global temperatures.

There may be some debate as to whether the warming climate is a natural cycle or the result of man-made pollutants.  But there is no debate that temperatures in Glacier National Park are getting warmer, the glaciers are getting smaller, and this is all happening even faster than previously predicted.

Story at USA News
Glacier National Park Photo Tour
More National Park News

High winds shoved ice into lakeside homes in Linwood, Michigan.  CNN iReporter Heath Bobick talked to Headline News from the scene.

A foot of snow on top of a half-inch of ice made our driveway unpassable for a few days.  The heavy ice coat caused about two dozen trees to lean or fall and block the driveway.

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A massive ice storm has hit the state of Kentucky at the end of January.  We missed the brunt of the storm and received only about 1/2” of ice covered by about a foot of snow.  This was enough to coat all the trees and cause some damage, but nowhere near as bad as in the western part of the state.

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