Mount Rainier Is, Reaching a Tipping Point , as Glaciers Rapidly Decline.
According to estimates from a National Park Service report, increasing temperatures have already melted
three glaciers on Mount Rainier, NBC News reports. .
The report, published earlier this month, presents further evidence of the world's declining mountain ice. .
Compared to 1896, the total mass
of ice on Mount Rainier is less
than half of what it used to be.
According to the report, the pace of ice loss
on the tallest volcano in the lower
48 states is increasing.
We’re getting to a tipping point on
some of the south-facing glaciers.
We’re reaching points where there’s
really not a lot of ice to be lost, Scott Beason, Geologist at Mount Rainier National Park, via NBC.
The area change
is accelerating in
the last six years. , Scott Beason, Geologist at Mount Rainier National Park, via NBC.
That’s kind of
a big, scary thing, Scott Beason, Geologist at Mount Rainier National Park, via NBC.
NBC reports that Mount Rainier's glaciers provide
drinking water, feed mountain springs and turn
hydropower turbines to generate energy.
It’s going to turn into a darker-looking
mountain. Everything is going
to look different in the next
century because of this. It will be
interesting to see how we adapt. , Scott Beason, Geologist at Mount Rainier National Park, via NBC.
According to scientists who contributed to the
United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,
glaciers around the globe are in prolonged decline.
Scientists warn that the trends have been driven by
the human use of fossil fuels and an accumulation
of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere