250 words on the melting glacier
for English project
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Answer:
Definition – Melting Glaciers. A glacier is a big chunk of ice that is created from falling and accumulated snow over a period of time. ... Due to heat changes, especially to relatively high temperatures, the Glacier melting occurs – a process where the ice changes from solid to liquid or water.
The Earth's glaciers have been silently retreating for more than half a century as climate change inexorably marches on. There is no place on the planet — except south-east Asia — capable of withstanding the effects of a phenomenon that has melted more than 9.6 billion tonnes of glacial ice in the world since 1961, according to a 2019 satellite study by the University of Zurich (Switzerland), and threatens to evaporate over a third of all glaciers by 2100, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
These massive blocks of moving ice arise as snow accumulated in cold places compacts and recrystallizes, as is the case, for example, in mountain and polar glaciers, which should not be confused with the gigantic Arctic plates. Glaciers are classified according to their morphology — ice fields, cirque glaciers, valley glaciers, etc. — the climate — polar, tropical or temperate — and their thermal conditions — cold, hot or polythermal base —.
The formation of a glacier takes millennia, and its size varies depending on the amount of ice it retains throughout its lifespan. The behaviour of these masses is reminiscent of that of the rivers they feed during thaws, and their speed depends on friction and the slope of the terrain over which they move. In total, glaciers cover 10% of the Earth's surface and, along with the ice caps, account for nearly 70% of the world's fresh water.
The rising temperature of the Earth has, without doubt, been responsible for melting glaciers throughout history. Today, the speed with which climate change is progressing might render them extinct in record time. Let us take a detailed look at the causes behind glacial melting:
- CO2 emissions: the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) produced by industry, transport, deforestation and burning fossil fuels, amongst other human activities, warm the planet and cause glaciers to melt.
- Ocean warming: oceans absorb 90% of the Earth's warmth, and this fact affects the melting of marine glaciers, which are mostly located near the poles and on the coasts of Alaska (United States).