How many times have you read an article about glaciers disappearing? A lot right? Well how many times have you read an article about glaciers and Frank Sinatra? Here’s one!
Frank Sinatra may have won the Grammy award for best male vocal performance for his song « It was a very good year » but unfortunately glaciers can’t say the same!
What is a glacier? It is an enormous amount of ice that can be found on every continent (except Australia!) and they are formed by huge amounts of snow that compact themselves in one same place for many many many maaaaaaaany years!
Snow? I thought it was ice! You are correct! The snow that is squashed at the bottom actually turns into ice and that is what forms the glacier! These walls of ice contain an extraordinary amount of water and it is believed that glaciers and ice sheet contain about 69% of the worlds’ fresh water.
But why are they blue? The best is yet to come! The ice that makes glaciers is so compact that it pushes out all of the air bubbles, changing the structure of the ice crystals. It therefore absorbs the red light and reflects blue!
Glaciers can be found in the north pole (this had me singing « Santa Claus is coming to town »!) and in the south pole, with the biggest glacier being the Lambert Fisher Glacier in Antarctica, which is 400 km ling and 100 km wide! However you can also find glaciers in other areas on our planet such as Kenya, Ecuador, Alaska, the Alps in Europe, New Zealand and in the Himalaya. In very cold climates, glaciers can even reach the sea and as they break off, they create enormous icebergs. Others end up in lakes just like the breathtaking Perito Moreno in Patagonia (Argentina).
The Perito Moreno glacier is absolutely beautiful, and you can’t stop looking at it, hoping to see a massive piece of ice crash into the water with a roaring sound as they break off. Frank Sinatra may have not thought about this place to have a romantic dinner listening to « The Way You Look Tonight » but I personally think it could be a good idea… Your welcome gentlemen!
Luck Be A Lady… or luck be a glacier! Glaciers provide fresh water to millions of people around the world who drink the water and use it for agriculture purposes. Water from glaciers also run down mountains and create rivers and lakes where biodiversity can be found, also used for food! (Read about the importance of freshwater here in pour interview with SHOAL). The lack of fresh water in many parts of the world would be Somethin’ Stupid and could cause a food security issue.
So instead of saying « That’s Life », it is important to understand what glaciers are made of and how to avoid them disappearing. How? By keeping our planet at its temperature and it would be Nice Work If You Can Get It!
Let’s take care of our glaciers before they disappear! The consequences would be disastrous and before Flying To The Moon to see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars, let’s at least try and do things differently. And once we have achieved our goal, faced it all and stood tall, and people ask you how you did it, here’s what you can say: « I did it My Way ! ».
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