What is Cryosphere
The cryosphere is the frozen water part of the Earth system.
It includes all snow, ice, and permafrost on Earth's surface and in its oceans and seas.
It covers about 10% of Earth's surface and contains about 75% of the planet's fresh water.
The cryosphere is an important part of the global climate system.
It plays a role in regulating the Earth's temperature, reflecting sunlight back into space and influencing ocean currents.
It also provides habitat for many plants and animals, and is a source of drinking water for millions of people around the world.
The cryosphere is changing rapidly due to climate change.
Sea ice and glaciers are melting, and permafrost is thawing.
These changes are having a significant impact on the global climate system and on the people and ecosystems that depend on the cryosphere.
Increasing threats posed by the shrinking glaciers
Barometers measures the climate crisis as evocatively as the state of glaciers, a key component of the cryosphere.
The World Meteorological Organization’s recent report, “The Global Climate 2011-2020”, gives a broad view of the planet’s response to greenhouse gas emissions.
In the section on the state of glacier health, it points out that, on average, the world’s glaciers thinned by approximately a metre a year from 2011 to 2020.
When compared across decades, there is significant regional variability, but the overall pattern remains that glaciers in all regions of the world are becoming smaller.
In Africa, glaciers on the Rwenzori Mountains and Mount Kenya are projected to disappear by 2030, and those on Kilimanjaro by 2040.
The report points to the rapid growth of pro-glacial lakes and the likelihood of glacier lake outburst flood (GLOF), posing additional threats to ecosystems and livelihoods.
The fury of a GLOF event was brought home this year by the destruction of the Chungthang dam in Sikkim after the South Lhonak Lake flooded from a melting glacier.
Earlier this year, a separate report by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development found that the disappearance of glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayas was “65% faster in the 2010s than in the previous decade”.
At the current rate of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is expected to see temperatures increase by 2.5°-3°C by the end of the century, the volume of glaciers is forecast to decline anywhere from 55% to 75%.
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