Activity 2.2- Cryosphere

   Activity 2.2- Cryosphere: Grinnell Glacier, Montana


                                                                        First Photo



(Stanton,1911)




Second Photo


(McKeon, 2008)



Third Photo



(Admin, 2019)


Grinnell Glacier, Glacier County, Montana                                                                                             

These photos of Grinnell Glacier show how it has changed over time (From 1911 to 2019). In the first photo from 1911, there is a big wall of ice. Well, looking at the second photo, in 2008, that wall of ice has diminished. Throughout the years, the ice on not only this glacier, but many others, are starting to shrink. While many of us know that glaciers are shrinking, most people may not know the reasons why. "Substantial evidence tells us that human-made climatic changes are to blame, and the unhappy marriage between immense ice loss and climate change has led glaciers to be increasingly recognized as one of the most visible icons of global environmental changes" (Jackson, 2019). Humans do in fact, have a big impact on the shrinking of glaciers. Humans seem to affect most actions on earth, which is why we should be knowledgeable about topics such as receding glaciers. "Where there are glaciers, there are people (even in Antarctica!), and the two have been interacting for the entirety of human history" (Jackson, 2019). Throughout these photos, there seems to be less ice on the glacier itself and more ice and water at the bottom of the glacier. The more years that go by, the more ice and melted ice that slides down to the bottom. As I read chapter 7 through the module in canvas, I learned that melting ice creates under-glacier freshwater rivers. This can affect the marine food chain because the water will eventually flow towards the ocean. This just shows how much shrinking glaciers affects the environment, the people, and the ecosystems in it. Studying the patterns and changes that glaciers have been going through is important, that way, it will show us individuals on earth how we are harming the environment day by day. 



Problem
As I stated in my discussion earlier, human made climate change is the main cause of the reduction of glaciers.  According to The New York Times, "Grinnell Glacier has already lost 113 acres (45%) by 2015" (Popovich, 2017). You begin to wonder how many more acers have been lost on this glacier since then. Humans have been proved to be the problem with climate change, and now the shrinking of glaciers caused from climate change. “With each decade that we go, more of what we see can be attributed to humans, and less to natural variation" (Popovich, 2017). 

Explanation
The ice is meant to stay on the glaciers, and it does not "just melt". Climate change that has been developed by humans is the cause of the increased melting and destruction of the glaciers. "As glaciers are more and more iconized with climate change, everything else about a glacier seems to fall away — their immense diversity and their complexity. Glaciers are increasingly reduced, simplified and detached from environments, from people, from socio-political-cultural processes" (Jackson, 2019). If the detachment and reduction of glaciers continue to occur, then the environment will be harmed even more that it has been.

References

U.S. Department of the Interior. (n.d.). Glacier repeat photos. National Parks Service. Retrieved from https://www.nps.gov/glac/learn/nature/glacier-repeat-photos.htm 

Hiking to Grinnell Glacier. (2019). photograph, Glacier City. 

Popovich, N. (2017, May 24). Mapping 50 years of melting ice in Glacier National Park. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/24/climate/mapping-50-years-of-ice-loss-in-glacier-national-park.html 

Jackson, M. (2019, March 5). Yes, glaciers are disappearing - but that's far from their only story. ideas.ted.com. https://ideas.ted.com/yes-glaciers-are-disappearing-but-thats-far-from-their-only-story/

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