RISING TEMPERATURES SHRINK WORLD'S LARGEST TEMPERATE
GLACIER - INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS RESUME ON GREENHOUSE GAS
REDUCTION
BERING GLACIER, ALASKA, 28 July 1997
Greenpeace
has documented a dramatic example of a changing climate - the 130
square kilometre retreat of the world's largest temperate glacier.
This week national governments resume talks on international
greenhouse gas reductions in Bonn, Germany.
The Bering Glacier, in Alaska, has shrunk by 10-12 km in length during
the past century, losing 130 square km in area. The rate of decline,
while erratic, has accelerated over the past two decades with parts of
the glacier retreating by as much as one kilometre a year during the
early 1990's. Over recent decades sections of the glacier have thinned
by up to 180 metres or about 20-25 per cent of its total thickness.
A Greenpeace Arctic expedition, which joined US geological survey
scientists working on the site, recently documented the retreat of the
Bering Glacier. Campaigners from the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise,
observed thousands of ice bergs in the meltwater lake, the 70 sq km
Vitus Lake, formed at the base of Bering Glacier by the melting ice.
The shrinking of the Bering Glacier is example of a global glacial
retreat which scientists have linked to global warming associated with
the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas. The world's
leading authority on climate science, the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) said in 1996: "Thinning of glaciers since the
mid-19th century has been obvious and pervasive in many parts of the
world." The recent rate of glacial retreat supports the IPCC
conclusion that the earth is entering a period of global warming
faster than any experienced in the last 10,000 years.
According to the IPCC, the shrinking of glaciers world-wide has
contributed between 2-5cm to this century's global sea level rise of
10-25cm. In the future, the combination of expanding oceans and
accelerated glacial retreat is expected to raise sea levels by between
15-95 cm by 2100 and by up to several metres over the coming
centuries.
Amidst these increasing signs of human-induced climate change, the oil
industry in the Alaskan Arctic is rapidly expanding towards the
Russian and Canadian borders, seeking to develop and open up several
major new oil fields. Greenpeace Arctic Expedition leader, aboard the
Arctic Sunrise, Steve Sawyer said: "We can't afford to burn the oil
that we've already found. Burning more than about a quarter of the
world's existing reserves of oil, coal and gas risks causing
catastrophic sea level rise. It's completely irresponsible to spend
billions exploring for more."
The remote Bering Glacier, which originates in Canada's Yukon
Territory and terminates near the Gulf of Alaska, is 191 kilometres
long and covers an area of about 5000 square kilometres. This region,
the Western Arctic has warmed at almost one degree Celsius per decade
for the past 3 decades or several times the average global rate. This
matches the predictions of climate change computer models that the
Arctic will be the fastest warming region of the planet.
This week in Bonn delegations from more than 150 countries will meet
to resume negotiations on legally binding greenhouse gas reduction
targets. The on-going talks will conclude in December at the third
Conference of the Parties to the Climate Convention in Kyoto, Japan.
VIDEO AND STILLS AVAILABLE PLEASE CONTACT CINDY BAXTER
+44-171-8658-168 OR ANKE SCHEIB +31-20-5249-543.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kevin Jardine, Greenpeace Arctic Climate Impacts expert tel: +1 (416) 597 8408
Steve Sawyer, Greenpeace Arctic expedition leader on board the Arctic
Sunrise (satellite phone) tel: + 872 130 2577
Dr. Bruce F. Molnia, US Geological Survey, tel: +1 (703) 648 4120