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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/aug/05/glacier-shrinking-australia-remote-heard-island-sounds-alarm>
"Glaciers on a remote Australian subantarctic island are shrinking rapidly,
losing almost a quarter of their size in just 70 years, with researchers
fearing glaciers on a neighbouring peninsula may have already disappeared.
Analysis of aerial photographs and maps going back to 1947 were combined with
satellite data to track melting on 29 glaciers on the uninhabited wilderness of
Heard Island, 4,100km south-west of Perth and 1,500km north of Antarctica.
Scientists said global heating was the most likely cause of the dramatic ice
losses. Between 1947 and 2019, the island had warmed by 0.7C, while the area
covered by glacial ice fell from 289 sq km to 225 sq km.
The most dramatic changes were recorded on the island’s east, in particular on
Stephenson glacier, which has retreated almost 6km since 1947. In the last 20
years, the glacier retreated on average 178 metres a year, the research,
published last week in the scientific journal the Cryosphere, found.
“Glaciers are extremely sensitive to small changes in temperature,” said Prof
Andrew Mackintosh, one of the paper’s authors and chief investigator at Monash
University’s Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF). As the air
warms, the melt rate increases and more snow falls as rain, Mackintosh said.
“I’ve got no doubt the increase in temperature is primarily responsible for
driving the glacier retreat. This shows that no place is free from the
influence of climate change.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
