(above photo from 1956 in National Geographic of the (melted) intersection of the Hintereisferner and Kesselwandferner glaciers, and photo below from August 2003)
From the National Geographic Article November 1976 "What's happening to our climate?" showing the melting of the glaciers due to the "abnormal warmth" of the 1940's, followed by the abnormal cooling from the 1940's to 1970's
(click on image to read caption at bottom right)
The stupefying pace of glacier melt in the 1940s (GRL 12/2009)
The most recent studies by researchers at ETH Zurich show that in the 1940s Swiss glaciers were melting at an even-faster pace than at present. This is despite the fact that the temperatures in the 20th century were lower than in this century. Researchers see the main reason for this as the lower level of aerosol pollution in the atmosphere...
Huss points out that the strong glacier melt in the 1940s puts into question the assumption that the rate of glacier decline in recent years “has never been seen before”. “Nevertheless”, says the glaciologist, “this should not lead people to conclude that the current period of global warming is not really as big of a problem for the glaciers as previously assumed”. This is because it is not only the pace at which the Alpine glaciers are currently melting that is unusual, but the fact that this sharp decline has been unabated for 25 years now.
Huss points out that the strong glacier melt in the 1940s puts into question the assumption that the rate of glacier decline in recent years “has never been seen before”. “Nevertheless”, says the glaciologist, “this should not lead people to conclude that the current period of global warming is not really as big of a problem for the glaciers as previously assumed”. This is because it is not only the pace at which the Alpine glaciers are currently melting that is unusual, but the fact that this sharp decline has been unabated for 25 years now.
Additional Information on glacier monitoring
See Hide The Decline for more on revisionist climate history
I thought you might enjoy this post from my blog from January:
ReplyDeleteMother Nature Network’s cherry-picking of Matterhorn photos fails miserably in their effort to debunk Glaciergate
http://algorelied.com/?p=3564
You should go back to the Hintereisferner to revisit the place. The second photo (in color) is not taken at the same place as the black and white.
ReplyDeleteAlso, your findings are contradicting with the Hintereisferner Glacier web's site. I think someone gave you a bus ride and you forgot to check where it was going. But obviously you've be misled on that one.
Anonymous: I have to disagree. The second photo comes from the pdf file from the service monitoring the glaciers I linked to above and is labeled by them as the Hintereisferner glacier. Take a look at slide #4 which maps out the 2 glaciers and you will find that the photos were taken in similar (not precisely) the same locations. Look at the relative size and profiles of the peaks in the center, the slope on the lower left, the ridge on the right, and compare to the map in slide #4 and then if you can show me on slide #4 any other possible place this photo could have been taken I'll listen.
ReplyDeleteGood news. And yet there is a note of sorrow in the plaintive gurgle of our anonymous unwashed hippy.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be lamenting the health of yon Alpine glacier.
A genuine concern troll would try and paint this as a successful outcome of Austrian glacier plasticwrap (pdf/WWF warning).
Oops, the WWF says Austrians are scrapping enviromental impact assessments.
From now on Austrian law will not prescribe
an environmental impact assessment
(EIA) for some categories of
projects as it did so far. The EIA will be
replaced with a simpler, faster procedure
aimed at assessing the specific
project. On the base of this "quick and
dirty" evaluation, the states governments
will be free to decide whether
or not an environmental assessment is
needed. This new procedure will not
permit environmental organizations
and public interest associations to
appeal or object: only directly concerned
municipalities will be entitled to
start legal action against such projects.
I guess Austrians are tired of Anonymous bullshit from commies pretending to care about the environment also.