Yes, it's official, we really haven't been imagining it all.
According to this
story from The Associated Press, mountains worldwide are melting
after the 'hottest century for 1000 years.
Scientists took samples from the core of a glacier on the flank on
the 26,293-foot Xixabangma which shows a century of ongoing warming
leading to the rapid melting of high mountain permanent ice fields in
areas like the Himalayas, Andes and on Kilimanjaro.
More worryingly, high ice fields seem to be melting more rapidly
than the global average. One associated effect may, somewhat
ironically, be a reduction in the dry season flow rates of rivers
depending on glacial melt, which are crucial to agriculture.
This may seem counter-intuitive, after all if ice is melting, there
should be more, not less, water, but the reality is that less total
ice means less melt.
This just confirms what climbers have realised for some time.
Glaciers worldwide are receding at a considerable rate - there are
passes in the Cordillera Real in Bolivia, which just 20 years ago
were glaciated yet are now moraine fields, meanwhile, melting in
Peru and the Alps has led to the build up of high mountain lakes held
back by fragile barriers of mud and scree. When the barriers give
way, huge tidal waves swamp local towns and villages.
