Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. The Dudh Koshi basin is the largest glacierized basin in Nepal. [5]Glaciers in the region have experienced ongoing negative balances and glacier shrinkage. The lakes are held behind moraine dams. The rocks in the foreground were dropped by a retreating glacier, and the mountains in the background have been carved by glacial action. 1. a. In the 1990s 11 of 25 Norwegian glaciers observed advanced due to several winters in a row with precipitation above normal. While the thickness changes have fluctuated, losses of more than 1 meter of thickness have occurred in the past 15 to 20 years. Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis: Contribution of Working. If the natural dams that hold this meltwater back break, it could cause widespread flooding in the valley below. The collapse has been due to warmer melt season temperatures leading to surface melting and the formation of shallow ponds of water on the ice shelf. Large temporary lakes of glacial meltwater may rupture, causing In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Zhou et al (2009)looking at the Nianchu River basin southern Tibet found a 5% area loss. In the Karokoram Range of the Himalaya there is a mix of advancing and retreating glaciers with 18 advancing and 22 retreating during the 1980-2003 period. On theGarbaldi Icefieldof the Coast Range of British Columbia all nine glacier examined by have retreated significantly since 1976. Easton Glacier began retreating in 1985 and through 2008 has retreated 290 m, and is currently retreating at a rate of 15 meters/year. Synonyms The glacier flows back to its origin. For detailed analysis of over 150 individual glaciers and their retreat histories utilizeGlacier Change. GLACIER: A large mass of ice slowly moving over a landmass, resulting from a multi-year surplus accumulation of snowfall in excess of snowmelt. One small icecap known to exist on the summit of Puncak Trikora completely disappeared sometime between 1939 and 1962. U.N. Lednik Fytnarginis an example of the recent rapid retreat with 450 m from 2006-2009. The 1995-2000 Edition notes the frontal variations of glaciers across the Alps and in Switzerland. This can lead to the disappearance of a glacier as seen below with Milk Lake Glacier and Lewis Glacier, North Cascades, Washington. This forces me to keep up with investigations of glacier terminus change around the globe. In 1892 the lake of the Glacier de Tte Rousse burst emptying some 200,000 m, of water and killing 200 people in Saint Gervais. Gigjokullhad retreated 700 meters in the 15 years before theEyjafjallajkull eruption in 2010. WebGlacial retreat leaves boulders and masses of scraped-together rocky debris and soil called glacial moraines. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Marginal retreat in the accumulation zone is evident on Baby, J, Twins,Grasshopper,Minor, Heap Steep, Helen and Lower Fremont Glacier. There it feeds riverlike glaciers that slide down valleys to the sea. An examination of 244 marine glacier frontson the Antarctic Peninsula and associated islands over the past 61 years indicates that 87% have retreated. ." Glacier Retreat Since 1980, glacier retreat has become increasingly rapid and ubiquitous, so much so that it has threatened the existence of many of the glaciers of the world, For detailed analysis of over 150 individual glaciers and their retreat histories utilize, Below is a list of individual glaciers in the Himalaya and high mountains of Central Asia that illustrate what is happening glacier by glacier. GLACIAL RETREAT Synonyms & Antonyms | Thesaurus.com However, ablationmostly in the form of summer meltinghas. In Greenland the last five years has brought retreat to several very large glaciers that had long been stable. The ice shelf disintegrated between 1970 and 2000. Glacier recession declined and reversed, in many cases, from 1950 to 1980 as a slight global cooling occurred. A climate warming/snowfall decrease leads to negative mass balances and glacier retreat. These glaciers store as much water as that contained in the lakes and reservoirs in the rest of the state and provide much of the stream and river flow in the dry summer months, some 870,000 m. the retreat of the floodwaters [noncount] Studies show the glaciers are in retreat. The basin contained 192 km2 of glacier area in 1977, 171 km2 in 1988, 152 km2 in 2000 and 142 km2 in 2009. The report warned that all tropical glaciers, such as those in the Andes Mountains in South America, were likely to disappear in the next 15 years. The Wilkins Ice Shelf has experienced substantial ice losses in 2008 and 2009. It is expected that due to their closer distance to the heavy moisture of the Congo region, the glaciers in the Ruwenzori Range may recede at a slower rate than either Kilimanjaro or Kenya. Long term mass balance records from Lemon Creek Glacier show declining mass balance with time[7]. Lyall Glacier, North Cascades with 1966 map outline and SPOT satellite image overlay from 2005. Between 1984 and 2007, they have lost an average more than 12 m in thickness and 20 to 40% of their volume. One of the more easily reached of the glaciers in the Park known as Schoolroom Glacier is expected to be gone in 25 years. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Excepting Alaska, about half of the glacial area in the U.S. is contained in the more than 700 glaciers in the North Cascades, a portion of the range between the Canadian border and I-90 in central Washington. If ablation is greater than accumulation, the glacier thins and eventually retreats (shortens). Zemu Glacier has retreated 420 m from 1978-2005, a rate of 14 meters per year (Raina, 2009). About 75% of the worlds freshwater is in the form of 7.9 million cubic mi (33 million cubic km) of ice. Miitivakkat Glacier, which is not a calving glacier is also retreating and losing mass at increasing rates (Mernild et al 2011). The first image is a map illustrating its demise put together by the, Washington Glaciers That Have Disappeared Since 1984 List, 2023 North Cascade Glacier Climate Project Field Season-Year 40, NCGCP Publications Last 8 Years Downloadable. The largest glaciers in each park were advancing 30 years ago Blue Glacier and Cowlitz Glacier but are now retreating rapidly. WebEvidence of glacial activity can be read throughout the landscape. The backwards movement of the snout of a glacier. Based on the slow recession and equilibrium response of Blackfoot and Harrison Glacier to recent climate over the last 40 years these two glaciers are not going to disappear within the next 30 years. In the high mountains of Central Asia detailed glacier mapping inventories, from GLIMS: (Global Land Ice Measurements from Space), ICIMOD (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development), ISRO ( Indian Space Research Organisation) and Chinese National Committee for International Association of Cryospheric Science (IACS) of thousands of glaciers have indicated increased strong thinning and area loss since 1990 throughout the region except the Karokoram. have retreated 116 and 206 meters since 2000. Extracting a Climate Signal from 169 Glacier Records. Science 308 (2005): 675677. Boulder, CO: Institute of The most dramatic glacier recession is the loss of large sections of the Larsen Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula. The program has been a cooperation between glaciologist Guy Adema and photographer Ron Karpillo. Excepting Alaska, about half of the glacial area in the U.S. is contained in the more than 700 glaciers in the North Cascades, a portion of the range between the Canadian border and I-90 in central Washington. In 201031 glaciersinNorwaywere assessed27 glaciers retreated, one glacier was stable, and three glaciers advanced. Many of the largest glaciers in the Karakoram are still retreating including the Baltoro, Panmah and Biafo Glacier, albeit slowly (Hewitt, 2011). WebThe Laurentide Ice Sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered millions of square miles, including most of Canada and a large portion of the Northern United States, multiple times The Karokoram is the one range where a mix of expansion and retreat is seen. Glacier definition: A glacier is an extremely large mass of ice which moves very slowly, often down a | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples The average ternminus change for the decade was -190 meters. With a continuation of the current climate retreat will continue as the glacier mass balances indicate the glaciers are not approaching equilibrium. Glaciers in Svalbard have been retreating at an increasing rate in the last 20 years. French glaciers experienced a sharp retreat in the years 1942-53 followed by advances up to 1980, then further retreat from 1982. These mountains are oftentimes cloud capped, making satellite imagery difficult and the political dynamics of the surrounding region have made access complicated at best over the past few decades. Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It has lost 1200 meters in length. The larger glaciers are now approximately a third of their size when first studied in 1850, and numerous smaller glaciers have disappeared completely. It retreatsthat is, its terminal edge, the end of the glacial tongue, ends at progressively higher elevationswhenever melting exceeds accumulation. In Greenland the last five years has brought retreat to several very large glaciers that had long been stable. [9]The glaciers ofDenali National Parkare shrinking. In the Pumqu Basin, Tibet an inventory of 999 glacier from the 1974 & 1983 to 2001 indicated the loss of 9% of the glacier area and 10% of the glaciers disappeared (Jin et al, 2005). In 2009 the Chacaltaya Glacier has disappeared. Large temporary lakes of glacial meltwater may rupture, causing catastrophic floods and even shifting global climate by dumping freshwater into the oceans and so altering their circulation. : Glaciers Shrinking at Record Rate. March 17, 2008. http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/03/17/un.climate.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch (accessed May 2, 2008). An increase of approximately 1 degree Celsius (2 F) in average summer temperatures is reflected in reduced glacier sizes. As recently as 1975, many North Cascade glaciers were advancing due to cooler/wet weather during the 1944-1976 period. This resulted from several consecutive years of little winter precipitation, and record-warm summers in 2002 and 2003. This can increase the ice flow rate and destabilize the mass balance of the ice sheet that is their source. Mass balance and ice surface elevation mapping have not been completed; hence satellite imagery must be utilized to assess glacier response. All but one of the Vatnajokull outlet glaciers, roughly 40 named glaciers in all, are receding as of 2000. Chacaltaya Glacier lost two-thirds of its volume and 40 % of its thickness over the same period and it is expected that by 2010 to 2015, Chacaltaya Glacier will no longer exist. Yes, it should retreat, but not so fast. All 51 have retreated and continue to retreat. Environmental Science: In Context. (Glaciers are flowing masses of ice, created by years of snowfal, Gjellerup, Karl (2 June 1857 - 11 October 1919), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/energy-government-and-defense-magazines/glacial-retreat. All About Glaciers. http://nsidc.org/glaciers/ (accessed May 2, 2008). These rapid flowing large glaciers with steep trunks have been very reactive to small mass-balance changes. Since 2000, Norwegian glaciers have decreased significantly. However, by 1987, all North Cascade glaciers were retreating. Helm Glacier, it has lost about 25 m of water equivalent, about 28 m of ice thickness lost. This glaciers remains over 30 km long, and is not in danger of disappearing anytime soon. Observers believe that there will be no more glacial ice on the summit of Kilimanjaro by the years 2015 to 2025. The Breidamerkurjkull, one of the glaciers that is an outlet of the Vatnajkull, the largest ice cap in Europe, has receded by as much as 2 km since 1973. The glacier acts as a natural reservoir releasing water due to melting to the Teetsa River. The high elevation loss is also noted in Tibet on Naimonanyi Glacier which has not retained accumulation even at 6000 meters. It had been moving continuously at speeds of over 24 m/day with a stable terminus since at least 1950. The ice front started to break up and the floating terminus disintegrated. and 2009 at right. For the 51 glaciers in the main Himalayan Range of India, Nepal and Sikkim all 51 are retreating, at an average rate of 23 m per year. In the Khumbu region, Nepal volume losses increased from an average of 320 mm/yr 1962-2002 to 790 mm/yr from 2002-2007, including area losses at the highest elevation on the glaciers (, ). Web1 as in icy having a low or subnormal temperature a glacial weather front coming down from Canada will bring freezing temperatures this weekend Synonyms & Similar Words Relevance icy freezing frigid cold chilly chill cool arctic polar ice-cold frosty wintery gelid numbing wintry brisk bitter shivery algid cooled chilled bone-chilling nippy coolish The melting rate for 20052006 was four times greater than that for 19801999. Introduction Maladeta Glacierhas lost 70% of its area since 1850 and 25%. They also act as vast cold-storage facilities, capturing and holding winter snowfall. That is more than 30% of the glacier lost in just 25 years. Bugaboo Glacierglacier has retreated 420 m since 1972. In the Canadian Rockies, the Athabasca Glacier, one of the outlet glaciers of the 325 km Columbia Icefield, has retreated 1500 m since the late 19th century. This glacier has thinned, accelerated and undergone retreat, in much the same pattern as the calving outlet glaciers of Greenland. The highest rate of 1% per year of area loss was identified from 2000 to 2007. The Boulder Glacier on the southeast flank of Mount Baker retreated 450 m from 1987 to 2005 leaving unvegetated terrain behind. and 2009 at right. Calving glaciers can retreat faster via calving icebergs, than glaciers that do end in a calving front. 85% of the glaciers flown over stretching from Alaska to Washington state had a reduction in altitude, and therefore, a thinning of the glacial mass. It shrank from 3.1 km2in 1958 to 0.9 km2in 2002. At this point the detailed glacier by glacier inventories inventories of thousands of glaciers are better validated and illustrate the widespread significant loss in glacier area and volume, though not all glaciers are retreating. In the Canadian Rockies, the Athabasca Glacier, one of the outlet glaciers of the 325 km Columbia Icefield, has retreated 1500 m since the late 19th century. Of these glaciers, between 1973 and 1976, the Meren Glacier retreated 200 m and the Carstensz Glacier retreated 50 m over the three year period. Disappearance of many alpine glaciers in the Andes and Himalayas could be disastrous for these persons. Examination of Dinwoody and Gannett Glacier indicated relatively little change in terminus position or areal extent from 1958-1983[6]. The collapse has been due to warmer melt season temperatures leading to surface melting and the formation of shallow ponds of water on the ice shelf. lion, despite increased snow accumulation in the center of the continent. Extremely slow, To be sustained a glacier must have a consistent accumulation zone. The evidence also supported findings that since the mid 1980s, the rate of recession for both glaciers has also been increasing. Beginning in the 1990s, using a laser measuring device mounted on the underside of an airplane, researchers compared glacier altitude differences with ground survey maps created in the 1950s. On the large island of New Guinea, there is photographic evidence of massive glacier recession since the region was first extensively photographed in the early 1930s. glacier retreat Post-glacial rebound Gangotri Glacier has retreated 1 km in the last 30 years, and with an area of 286 km, In the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan 28 of 30 glaciers examined for the 1976-2003 period retreated at an average rate of 11 m per year (. Of 93 glaciers surveyed by the Austrian Alpine Club in 2009, 85 receded, 7 were stationary and 1 advanced. Together, evaporation and melting are termed ablation. This glacier has a had steady retreat in the last 20 years. Major scientific uncertainties linger about the mechanisms and future progress of glacial melting, especially with regard to the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica. The Langtang sub-basin is a small northeast-southwest elongated basin, tributary of Trishuli River north of Kathmandu and bordered with China to the north. Almost all the glaciers are retreating at rates of 1059 m/year and the rate has accelerated after 2001 (Bajracharya and Mool, 2009). In 2005 for the first time ever all glaciers examined in Switzerland were retreating. An inventory of 308 glaciers in the Nam Co Basin, Tibet, noted an increased loss of area for the 2001-2009 period, 6% area loss (Bolch et al., 2010). In New Zealand the mountain glaciers have been in a general recession since 1890, with an acceleration of this recession after 1920. The most famous of these Khumbu Glacier retreated at a rate of 18 m per year from 1976-2007 (Bajracjarya and Mool, 2009). The 7 km glacial cap on the mountain known as Puncak Jaya is the largest on the island, and has retreated from one larger mass into several smaller glacial bodies since 1936. When the tongue of a glacier goes back up the mountain because there is more meltwater and less glacier. Retrieved June 29, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/energy-government-and-defense-magazines/glacial-retreat. Environmental Science: In Context. These examples indicate the difficulty in using only terminus change or areal extent change in determining equilibrium response. Glacial Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster The glacier has the longest floating tongue of any glacier in the Northern Hemisphere, nearly 80 km long. 5 Hall and Fagre (2003) utilized a model to construct the future of glaciers in the Blackfoot-Jackson watershed, and determined that all would be gone by 2030 with continued substantial warming, but not with limited additional warming. The lagoon is 350 feet deep and has nearly doubled its size during the past decade. This resulted from several consecutive years of little winter precipitation, and record-warm summers in 2002 and 2003. Stokes et al (2007)used satellite imagery to observe 113 glaciers in the region from 1980-2000 and found 95% to have retreated. Since 1983 retreat rates have again accelerated on these two glaciers. The glacier is in rapid retreat, which is a fact and a clear sign of climate change, Mr. Albrecht says. process by which glaciers melt faster than precipitation can replace the ice. In 2009 the number of retreating glaciers was 18 with 3 stationary and 2 advancing. It is simply not possible to make observations on this number of glaciers in the field. Zealand and western Scandinavia (a small fraction of the global whole) advanced in the late 1990s. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of ABLATION (GLACIAL): The erosive reduction of ice or snow from the surface of a mass of ice. Nef Glacieris an example of this retreat having retreated 2.5 km in the last 15 years. For the Indian Himalaya retreat averaged 19 meters per year for 17 glaciers all retreating. 19 rnekler: Interglacial episodes, or at least episodes of glacial retreat, are evidenced Ancient sea levels have risen and fallen many yards/meters during glacial and interglacial (warmer) periods as Earths water was alternately locked up in glaciers and returned to the sea as meltwater. The anomalous expansions are confined to the highest relief glaciers and appeared suddenly and sporadically (Hewitt, 2005). The Valdez Glacier pictured is in the same area, does not calve but has retreated throughout the century. A glacier that is significantly thinning in the accumulation zone does not have a consistent accumulation and will disappear. The third larger area that was once part of the icecap known as the Northwall Firn, had split into several smaller glaciers by 1972. grown even more than accumulation. Global Retreat North Cascade Glacier Climate Project - Nichols If the fast-paced melting continues, the. At this rate, by 2100 about 80 percent of the surface of the glacier will be gone, says Ralph Logon, a Swiss geo-morphologist and expert on glaciers. In the current assessment 10 of the 15 glaciers are experiencing a disequilibrium response and will disappear, the other five have been shrinking little. Glacial scouring and retreat has produced the tens of thousands of lake basins that dot much of Northern Hemisphere (including those of the Great Lakes); south of the farthest extent of glacial coverage, natural lakes are relatively rare. Lewis Glacier in 1988 as the last relict ice is melting away. Tungnaarjokulis retreating at 50 meters per year. Glacier recession has been observed in these outlet glaciers. Glacial drift, This can increase the ice flow rate and destabilize the mass balance of the ice sheet that is their source. One of the more easily reached of the glaciers in the Park known as Schoolroom Glacier is expected to be gone in 25 years. Antarctica, too, was melting more rapidly in the early 2000s. ThePolish Research Stationin Hornsund built in 1957 has provided a base for observation of the glacier retreat. Sensitive satellite measurements of the altitude and gravitational attraction of the ice dome on Greenland have revealed that some of the largest glaciers funneling ice from the heartland to the sea more than doubled in speed in the early 2000s. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Glacial Retreat - NASA Earth Observatory Similarly, in Austria 95 of 99 glaciers were retreating, in Italy all 69 observed glaciers were in retreat and in France all 6 were retreating. Meltdown in the Mountains. http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=530&ArticleID=5760 (accessed May 2, 2008). The glacier accelerated to over 30 m/day. A hundred years ago Breidamerkurjokull, extended to within 250 m of the ocean, Today, Breidamerkurjokulls terminus is three kilometers from the ocean. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. The alpine glaciers of the world have been in retreat since the mid-nineteenth century. Rather, the ice sheets seem to be responding in mere decades. Bolivia and Peru may face drinking-water shortages in the near future due to alpine glacial retreat; India and its neighbors, with their much larger populations, face an even larger crisis. Of the 39 major outlet glaciers, 35 have retreated notably in the last decade, losing a combined 1590 square kilometers (Box and Decker, 2011). By 2005 Only 1 of the 25 glaciers was advancing, two were stationary and 22 were retreating. In India the Gangotri Glacier retreated 34 m per year from 1975-2006. Several glaciers, notably the much visited Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers, have periodically advanced (especially during the 1990s) but the scale of these advances is small compared to 20th century retreat. Greenland is of major significance to the rest of the world in our struggle to halt climate change, Mr. Barroso told reporters afterward. The tropical location has a predictably steady level of rain and snowfall, as well as cloud cover year round and there has been no noticeable change in the level of moisture which has fallen during the 20th century. One of the more famous glaciers is Columbia Glacierr, near Valdez. WebDefine retreating. In Sikkim all 21 glaciers examined are retreating at an average rate of 20 m per year . In 32 years from 1977 to 2009 the glacier area declined by 26% (Bajracharya et al., 2011). This indicates a lack of high altitude snow-ice gain (Kehrwald et al, 2008). In 2005 the glacier is only 0.93 miles from reaching Taku Point and blocking Taku Inlet, and is advancing at a rate of 17 m/year. Glaciation is the accumulation of ice in a given area when more snow falls in winter than melts in summer. Mass balance and ice surface elevation mapping have not been completed; hence satellite imagery must be utilized to assess glacier response. Although this much melting would probably require several centuries, Greenland and Antarctica melting are each causing sea level to rise about 0.02 in (0.5 mm) per year. The 7 km glacial cap on the mountain known as Puncak Jaya is the largest on the island, In the Khumbu region, Nepal volume losses increased from an average of 320 mm/yr 1962-2002 to 790 mm/yr from 2002-2007, including area losses at the highest elevation on the glaciers (Bolch et al., 2011). The location where the glacier becomes afloat is retreating 1.2 km/year. Of the nine glaciers in disequilibrium J, Twins, Grasshopper,Minor,Heap Steep, Mammoth and Lower Fremont Glacier exhibit significant new bedrock exposure within the accumulation zone. Like rivers flowing from an enormous lake, numerous outlet glaciers transport ice from the margins of the ice sheet to the ocean. As recently as 1975, many North Cascade glaciers were advancing due to cooler/wet weather during the 1944-1976 period. These glaciers store as much water as that contained in the lakes and reservoirs in the rest of the state and provide much of the stream and river flow in the dry summer months, some 870,000 m. It had been moving continuously at speeds of over 24 m/day with a stable terminus since at least 1950. This article documents some of the observations. How Glaciers Change the Landscape Abrasion: The mechanical wearing or grinding away of rock surfaces by the friction and impact of rock particles transported by wind, ice, waves, running water, or The ice sheet is now 40 percent the size of its previous minimum stable extent. Since 1980, 20% of the area of Swiss glaciers has been lost. There is are no recent field observations of mass balance, glacier thickness or glacier extent change in the Wind River Range, and satellite imagery is the only means to assess glacier response in the region to climate change over the last 40 years. Then, a total of about 3,250 km2of shelf area disintegrated in a 35-day period beginning on 31 January 2002. sometimes used figuratively Her political influence has been in retreat since the scandal. Milk Lake Glacier in 1988 clinging to the slopes above the greenish lake. Three glaciers that have been researched, Helheim, Jakobshavns and Kangerdlugssuaq Glaciers, jointly drain more than 16% of the Greenland Ice Sheet. In the Himalaya the loss is not as great for basins where the summer monsoon is key. Both glaciers continue to retreat with the main termini retreating approximately 100-120 m since 1966. Only 27% of the 99 km area of Glacier National Park covered by glaciers in 1850 remained by 1993. These accelerations were partly due to the lubricating effect of water from melting surface ice, but a complete understanding of the acceleration of Greenlands glaciers was not yet available in 2008. The rapid thinning, acceleration and retreat of these three large oulet glaciers in close association with one another suggests a common triggering mechanism. In the Nepal Himalaya area loss of 3808 glaciers from 1963-2009 is nearly 20% (Bajracharya et al., 2011). Most of the glaciers have been reduced in size and the accumulation zone had a corresponding rise to higher elevations as the 20th century progressed. In historic times, glaciers grew during the Little Ice Age, a cool period from about 1550 to 1850. The Larsen Ice Shelf lost 2,500 square kilometers from 1995 to 2001. Thus, we can have retreat at the head of the glacier not just at the terminus of the glacier. CONCEPT You can also add a definition of Glacial Retreat yourself. Knife Point Glacier has lost 31 % of its area since 1966, but all the change is in the terminus area of the glacier, 280 m of retreat, and one small tributary chute on its northern margin. The nearbyHumboldt Glacierhas the longest terminus face in contact with the ocean of any Greenland outlet glacier. Similarly, in Austria 95 of 99 glaciers were retreating, in Italy all 69 observed glaciers were in retreat and in France all 6 were retreating. As Andean Glaciers Shrink, Water Worries Grow. New York Times (November 24, 2002). Research also indicates that the glacial retreat was proportionately greater in the 1990s than in any other decade of the last 100 years. Complete melting of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets would raise global sea level between 16 and 33 ft (5 and 10 m), with massive consequences for coastal and island ecosystems and for many human settlements.