国产热热热精品,亚洲视频久久】日韩,三级婷婷在线久久,99人妻精品视频,精品九热人人肉肉在线,AV东京热一区二区,91po在线视频观看,久久激情宗合,青青草黄色手机视频

News Flash

Experts: Glaciers melting very fast

By Bao Daozu (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-12-09 06:53
Large Medium Small

CANCUN, Mexico - Patagonia, the southernmost part of South America, and the coastal mountain ranges of Alaska are losing their huge glaciers faster and for longer periods of time than those in other parts of the world, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Tuesday.

The findings, compiled by the UNEP with scientists and research centers from around the world, also show glaciers are retreating in northwestern United States, southwestern Canada, in the mountains of Asia, including the Hindu Kush of the Himalayas, the Arctic and the Andes.

In Europe, glaciers had been getting larger since the mid-1970s, but this was reversed around 2000.

Scientists also discovered that some glaciers in western Norway, New Zealand's South Island and parts of the Tierra del Fuego in South America have been expanding.

The report highlights that glaciers in China's Tianshan Mountain range and the Himalayas are receding. However, in smaller areas of the Karakoram range in Asia, advancing glaciers have begun to cover areas that have been ice-free for at least 50 years.

Special Coverage:
Cancun Climate Conference 2010
Related readings:
Experts: Glaciers melting very fast China: Don't say 'no' to negotiationsExperts: Glaciers melting very fast A coal-reliant nation faces tough times
Experts: Glaciers melting very fast New climate text tabled in MexicoExperts: Glaciers melting very fast In one poor county, working against climate change is costly
"Accumulation of science shows us a clear general trend of melting glaciers linked to a warming climate and perhaps other impacts, such as the deposit of soot, reducing the reflection of heat back into space," said Achim Steiner, UN under-secretary-general and UNEP executive director.

"This report underlines a global trend, observed over many decades now in some parts of the globe, which has short- and long-term implications for considerable numbers of people in terms of water supplies and vulnerability."

The scientists believe that steady temperature rises have caused glaciers to melt or advance, which often result in natural disasters in mountainous regions. Advancing glaciers block drainage routes and create unstable lakes, which may cause severe flooding in downstream areas.

"The risk to lives and livelihoods in the fragile Hindu Kush Himalayan region is high and getting higher," said Madhav Karki, deputy director-general of the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development.

The UNEP report also indicates that melting glaciers may lead to the reduction in water availability in some dry areas, including parts of Central Asia and the Andes, "perhaps in a matter of a few decades".

The report said many low-lying dry areas that rely on small glaciers as main water sources will face water shortages as these tend to melt faster.

Christian Nellemann of the UNEP/GRID-Arendal research center in Norway, said when glaciers disappear, people, livestock, birds and animals will be forced to move. But ironically, he said, many people will die in deserts from drowning "when increasingly unpredictable rains cause flash floods".

Most glaciers started shrinking at the end of the Little Ice Age about 150 years ago. However, since the start of the 1980s the rate of ice loss has increased in many areas, concurrent with increases in global mean air temperatures.

搜索| 鹰潭市| 灵山县| 宜城市| 通州市| 延庆县| 渝北区| 鸡西市| 贡嘎县| 五大连池市| 禹州市| 苗栗县| 博兴县| 黔西| 南丰县| 玛沁县| 龙游县| 西安市| 白山市| 长沙市| 镇坪县| 缙云县| 泸溪县| 泾川县| 介休市| 桓台县| 甘南县| 祁东县| 千阳县| 屏边| 磐石市| 舞钢市| 城口县| 堆龙德庆县| 延吉市| 株洲市| 邵东县| 昭觉县| 资阳市| 南华县| 织金县|