Thaw of world’s glaciers reaches record high: UN

‘A thaw of the world’s glaciers has accelerated to a new record, with some of the biggest losses within Europe in a worrying sign of climate change, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) said.

“Meltdown in the mountains,” UNEP said in a statement, saying that a retreat of glaciers from the Andes to the Arctic should add urgency to UN negotiations on working out a new treaty by the end of 2009 to combat global warming. “Data from close to 30 reference glaciers in nine mountain ranges indicate that between the years 2004-2005 and 2005-2006, the average rate of melting and thinning more than doubled,” it said.

Some of the biggest losses were in Europe - in the Alps, the Pyrenees and the Nordic region - according to the UNEP-backed World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) at the University of Zurich in Switzerland.

“The latest figures are part of what appears to be an accelerating trend with no apparent end in sight,” WGMS director Wilfried Haeberli said in a statement.’

From:  http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/16/2190744.htm

The International Panel on Climate Change findings were proven wrong about the Arctic ice sheet, predicting a possible melting away in 100 years time. They were proven wrong when an unprecedented area of the ice melted away in 2007 and now a lot of the ice is rotten one year old ice that will easily break-up. The Arctic Ocean is now expected to be free of ice in just a few years and the fabled Northwest passage is already now open for business.

It should be of concern that the Himalayan ice is predicted to be gone in 300 years and this fits with what is happening with glaciers around the World, where the loss will affect the water supplies of many people. In the light of events in the Arctic Ocean, the prediction of 300 years for the Himalayan ice sheets could in reality turn out to be 30 years, especially if tipping points tumble into a faster pace for global heating.

Kim Peart