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The Icelandic Families Tracking Climate Change With Measuring Tape (undark.org)
Gloria Dickie, writing for Undark Magazine: A 30-meter Komelon-branded measuring tape, a pencil, and a yellow paper form are all Hallsteinn Haraldsson carries with him when he travels to the Snaefellsnes Peninsula in western Iceland. But unfurling the measuring tape before me at his home in Mosfellsbaer, a town just outside of Reykjavik, he says it is a significant upgrade from the piece of marked rope he used to bring along. With 11 percent of the landmass covered in ice, rapidly ebbing glaciers are threatening to reshape Iceland's landscape, and Haraldsson, 74, is part of a contingent of volunteer glacier monitors who are at the frontlines of tracking the retreat. Every autumn, Haraldsson, often accompanied by his wife and son, sets off on foot to measure the changes in his assigned glacier.
Their rudimentary tools are a far cry from the satellites and time-lapse photography deployed around the world in recent decades to track ice loss, and lately, there's been talk of disbanding this nearly century-old, low-tech network of monitors. But this sort of ground-truthing work has more than one purpose: With Iceland's glaciers at their melting point, these men and women -- farmers, schoolchildren, a plastic surgeon, even a Supreme Court judge -- serve not only as the glaciers' guardians, but also their messengers. Today, some 35 volunteers monitor 64 measurement sites around the country. The numbers they collect are published in the Icelandic scientific journal Jokull, and submitted to the World Glacier Monitoring Service database. Vacancies for glacier monitors are rare and highly sought-after, and many glaciers have been in the same family for generations, passed down to sons and daughters, like Haraldsson, when the journey becomes too arduous for their aging watchmen. It's very likely one of the longest-running examples of citizen climate science in the world. But in an age when precision glacier tracking can be conducted from afar, it remains unclear whether, or for how long, this sort of heirloom monitoring will continue into the future. It's a question even some of the network's own members have been asking.
Their rudimentary tools are a far cry from the satellites and time-lapse photography deployed around the world in recent decades to track ice loss, and lately, there's been talk of disbanding this nearly century-old, low-tech network of monitors. But this sort of ground-truthing work has more than one purpose: With Iceland's glaciers at their melting point, these men and women -- farmers, schoolchildren, a plastic surgeon, even a Supreme Court judge -- serve not only as the glaciers' guardians, but also their messengers. Today, some 35 volunteers monitor 64 measurement sites around the country. The numbers they collect are published in the Icelandic scientific journal Jokull, and submitted to the World Glacier Monitoring Service database. Vacancies for glacier monitors are rare and highly sought-after, and many glaciers have been in the same family for generations, passed down to sons and daughters, like Haraldsson, when the journey becomes too arduous for their aging watchmen. It's very likely one of the longest-running examples of citizen climate science in the world. But in an age when precision glacier tracking can be conducted from afar, it remains unclear whether, or for how long, this sort of heirloom monitoring will continue into the future. It's a question even some of the network's own members have been asking.
We even got a new highest waterfall several years back. The highest used to be Glymur, at the bottom of Hvalfjörður (very pretty waterfall, BTW, strongly recommend the hike out to it). But Morsárjökull (a terminal glacier of Vatnajökull, the giant glacier in the southeast) receded up a cliff, leaving a series of waterfalls - Morsárfossar - which are taller than Glymur (but not as pretty).
Jesus: "Son of a
True enough, it is the oceans that rise to swallow the islands, islands rarely sink into the oceans.
When we can just blatt out huge plumes of greenhouse gasses launching satellites, the old methods seem quaint.
Scientists around the world cannot control the data produced by citizen volunteers, who tend to report the truth instead of massaging the data to mat pre-conceived theories of what the data should look like to spread alarmism (and thereby increase the flow of government grants). The volunteers also are of course unpaid, meaning you can't really control them with funding...
It was a nice idea while it lasted though.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
”But in an age when precision glacier tracking can be conducted from afar, it remains unclear whether, or for how long, this sort of heirloom monitoring will continue into the future. It's a question even some of the network's own members have been asking.”
If nothing else, it’s still a good excuse for an outing.
#DeleteChrome
"Such findings werenâ(TM)t uncommon during that period: In the 1930s, many of the countryâ(TM)s glaciers had retreated significantly due to an unusually warm climate, but beginning in 1970, they advanced once more until human-caused climate change beat them back again."
So in the 1930s it was natural, but now oh noes it's the evil mankind making them retreat.
I smell B.S.
uncanny; https://archive.org/details/DoomsdayMachine1972
I smell stupidity.
I don't respond to AC's.
How can they conclude that these glacier measurements are changing because of rising temperatures, when it's just as likely that it's due to natural periodic fluctuations in the melting point temperature of ice, or else due to natural expansion and contraction of all the rocks forming the island?
I was at a glacier recently, and there was a sign talking about how if the glacier kept melting due to global warming, it would vanish and no longer be able to be a source for water for the rivers it fed, and all the problems people downstream would have due to lack of water.
What they seemed to miss was the idea that if the glacier was NOT melting, there would also be no water downstream....
No, they didn't miss that... With the glacier gone, you will have a rush of water (also known as flooding) in spring when the snow melts and then almost nothing until next spring. With the glacier there, you have a constant stream of water while it slowly releases the water that fell as snow in winter. Ok... a lot of winters ago, but you should get the idea.
Didn't they get the memo ? Climate change is just a global conspiracy of evil scientists that somehow managed to become more powerfull and influencial than all the oil and gaz corporations worldwide with their trillions of dollars, and who created that fake "enthropogenic climate change" thing so that they could continue to receive their grant money. It makes perfect sense !
I get the idea. I'm afraid you do not. Snow doesn't melt instantly. And in fact in the vast majority of the world, snow and water do not land on glaciers and the land downstream does not flood every spring.
Even if you think landing on the glacier somehow changes this. Remember, every bit of snow that lands on the glacier melts every year (or at least the same amount of water) PLUS MORE. As such, someone living downstream from a glacier already gets more water every year than someone who does not. In fact the sign was very clear that the melting glacier itself was what provided enough water for the communities downstream. Something they would not have if the glacier was gone.
Of course it's also something they wouldn't have if the glacier weren't melting. But that text wouldn't fit the agenda of those who wrote the sign.
For reference, see the tungsten theft in the US. Incandescent bulbs made illegal; tungsten then bought up to replace the gold in Fork Knox; VSG GEOTUS President Trump just recovered said gold from the Philippines.
Tally sticks are the way to go.
The government outspends any company hundreds to one in this area
That's 100% false.
https://www.statista.com/topic...:
Oil (and gas) companies are among the largest corporations worldwide. Among the top ten companies worldwide based on revenue, six are in the oil industry. In 2016, Anglo-Dutch giant Royal Dutch Shell reported almost 234 billion U.S. dollars of revenue. Thus, Shell was the third-largest company worldwide based on revenue in 2015. ExxonMobil from Irving, Texas generated a revenue reporting some 219 billion U.S. dollars in 2016. However, ExxonMobil claims the highest market value within this industry, as well as having the second-highest market value of all companies worldwide in 2015.
https://www.nationalpriorities...: In fiscal year 2015, the federal budget is $3.8 trillion.
So, no, the fossil fuel industry is probably larger than the entire US budget, making your statement 100% false.
I don't respond to AC's.
Many people were interested in measuring natural phenomena at those times. Naturalistic or environmental movement was producing lots of information in nearby countries as well to help on agricultural and forestry management and for research on plant, animal and insect life. Some people experimented even with their sexuality and documented it like scientists they were, for the embarrassed progeny to find decades or a century later. In the 1930s and before it was all natural. This modern culture with its religious guilt trips and tribal attitudes has lost something. I personally blame the world wars and media for that.
What they seemed to miss was the idea that if the glacier was NOT melting, there would also be no water downstream....
What you seem to miss is: glaciers are supposed to regrow in winter. So the average size is constant
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
I tried just for an instant to give a fuck about glaciers on an island that has lots of them. I failed. I don't give a fuck about this. Sorry.
If it was "So the average size is constant" why the need to measure it? Why the need to tell the world its getting measured?
If it "regrow in winter" its not constant.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Think of the fun of talking about "climate change". With the graphs and people going out to measure the "climate change".
The results go back decades and show many changes. But now its all about the "climate change"...
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Because due to global warming the glaciers are shrinking, that means the average size over the course of a year gets less from year to year or decade to decade. As you surely know that: what kind of nonsense do you ask here?
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Because over the last 40 or so years, the average size of glaciers has not been constant.
At best, instead of being stored, the water runs off quickly in the winter and isn't stored to smooth out the water curve for the rest of the year.
At worst, climate change has also altered where the rain is falling so enough water no longer falls on the glacier and at some point, the area will become arid after the stored up water is gone.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
When your economy is largely dependant on fishing and growing things, warmer weather is actually a good thing. Check out the production of mackerel year over year for example.
I was at a glacier recently, and there was a sign talking about how if the glacier kept melting due to global warming, it would vanish and no longer be able to be a source for water for the rivers it fed, and all the problems people downstream would have due to lack of water.
What they seemed to miss was the idea that if the glacier was NOT melting, there would also be no water downstream....
The size of a glacier is dependent on the balance between the snow it receives each year and the amount of melt over the year. If the glacier is growing it's receiving more snow than is melting. If the glacier is shrinking it's receiving less snow than is melting. If it shrinks to the point of disappearing then melt that keeps rivers going late in the summer/fall will also disappear changing the pattern of water flow often to the detriment of those who depend on the river.
Iceland has actually risen out of the Atlantic ocean with the retreat of the ice since the end of the last ice age.
The sheer weight of the ice sitting on top of it during the ice age caused the island to sink down.
This can be seen around the coastal areas where the coast is flat and then rises dramatically to a plateau.
So in the 1930s it was natural, but now oh noes it's the evil mankind making them retreat.
I smell B.S.
No, in the 1930s it was human too.
I get the idea. I'm afraid you do not.
Your following text suggests you don't get the idea.
The snow pack gaining snow and then melting ensures that the water from the snow is released at a slow rate, notably in summer when it is needed the most. If it falls just as snow directly then it melts in its entirety over a few days in spring, and comes as a rush, then it stops. Where I used to live if there was a heavy snowfall that then melted you could be pretty sure the local river would flood two days later. It didn't stop it running very low in the summer following.
By using the same method passed down across generations, consistent data is collected.
Future high tech methods could be employed, but compared to age old methods.
Go well
Or should it be? Citizens should just be citizens and leave science to professionals. It's a complicated world we live in and there are many things we do not know. If you're not absolutely certain something is within your stated rights to do and you cannot back it up with professional advice, you should not do it. Simple as that. Just step in line.
Arguing your incredulity is not a very wise thing. Something can be true even if you don't think it is.
As though it ever stops bloody raining in Iceland..
One for the content, one for his name containing "waffle"
I'll agree that has more possible merit than the article's statement.
I am rationally pointing out a recurring or cyclical phenomenon might not have a new and different cause for the most recent instance. It is unwise for you to assume the article is correct merely because it's something you want to believe.
The entire point of ground truthing a measurement is to check that the remote instruments are actually working correctly.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"