Alaska's Juneau Ice Field, a vast expanse home to over 1,000 glaciers, is experiencing an accelerated rate of melting. Recent studies reveal that the snow-covered area is shrinking at a pace 4.6 times faster than it was in the 1980s.
Researchers have meticulously tracked snow levels in the nearly 3,885-square-kilometer icy region, utilizing data that dates back to the 18th century. While the ice field had been gradually diminishing since the end of the Little Ice Age around 1850, the rate of melting has significantly increased over the past decade, as highlighted in Tuesday's Nature Communications journal.
\"What's happening is that as the climate is changing, we're getting shorter winters and longer summers,\" explained Bethan Davies, a glaciologist at Newcastle University in England and the study's lead author. \"We're having more melt, longer melt seasons.\"
The rapid transformation of the Juneau Ice Field underscores the broader impacts of climate change, affecting not only local ecosystems but also global sea levels and weather patterns. As summers extend and winters wane, the delicate balance of this ancient ice landscape continues to shift, prompting urgent calls for climate action.
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Alaska's Juneau ice field melting nearly 5 times faster than before
cgtn.com
