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| Aquafire |
 Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 6:53 pm Post subject: How many Glaciers are there in the World...? |
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Forum Freshman
Joined: 25 Mar 2008
Posts: 3
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My first post.
I hope no-one minds my jumping in the deep end... 
As funny as it may seem, I have not been able to come up with a reliable figure concerning the number of Glaciers in the world.
I thought that it might be in the tens of thousands, but was suprised to find (in the process of researching this question) that Alaska alone has tens of thousands of Glaciers.
Other than that, all I know is at least 48 countries are said to contain at glaciers as part of their territory.
So can someone help me answer this question.
How many Glaciers are there in the world...?
Thanks in Advance.
Aquafire |
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| Orleander |
| Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:24 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Freshman
Joined: 25 Mar 2008
Posts: 90
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| What is the criteria to be classified a glacier? What its made of? Its age? Its size? If it moves? |
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| Aquafire |
| Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:52 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Freshman
Joined: 25 Mar 2008
Posts: 3
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| Orleander wrote: |
| What is the criteria to be classified a glacier? What its made of? Its age? Its size? If it moves? |
Glacier... Compacted snow formed into a river of ice that descends from higher ground.
Age...currently existing.
Size. Big and Small.
Moves. Yes.
Calves. Yes
So, do you have a figure in mind.....?
Aquafire |
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| Lynx_Fox |
| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:39 am Post subject: |
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| Aquafire |
| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:12 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Freshman
Joined: 25 Mar 2008
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| Lynx_Fox wrote: |
To learn more try National Snow and Ice Data Center:
All glaciers have at least some ice, though there might be persistent snow fields that are labeled as glaciers.
They've got at least 100,000 in their catalog.
http://nsidc.org/data/docs/noaa/g01130_glacier_inventory/ |
Lynx Fox,
Thank you so much.
It is an interesting link.
The reason why I am interested in such information is because (as I suspected...due to costs limitations and inaccessibility) the bulk of the world's glaciers are not being actively measured.
This is turn, must throw some doubt over the whole question as to whether glaciers in general in fact shrinking, stable or even growing.
The link suggest the former; that may be so, but I'd like to see hard evidence as to how they came about this conclusion and on what sampling cluster they used.
Cordially
Aqua Fyre |
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| i_feel_tiredsleepy |
| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:35 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Masters Degree
Joined: 21 Mar 2008
Posts: 599
Location: Montreal
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| It is just a fact that has been observed by everyone who lives by glaciers, they have been shrinking everywhere. Moreover, satelite images show that the glaciers in Antartica are shrinking as well. Anyway, this really should be obvious since recorded temperatures have been increasing, so it is natural that if temperatures went up, the amount of ice melting would increase. Global warming is a fact, the question is if it is anthropogenic or natural. |
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| marnixR |
| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:24 am Post subject: |
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Forum Cosmic Wizard
Joined: 10 Apr 2007
Posts: 2398
Location: Cardiff, Wales
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one picture brought the fact of shrinking glaciers home to me
it was one of somebody's holiday snaps taken from a visitor's centre with a glacier in the very distant background
when asked why they built the visitor's centre so far away from the glacier, the answer was : "they didn't - when it was built in the 1960s that's where the glacier ended"
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biology without evolution is but stamp collecting |
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