The article “Study Links Temperature to a Peruvian Glacier’s
Growth and Retreat”, by Justin Gillis, can be found under today’s date
(2/25/14) on the New York Times Environmental Science section.
The direct link to the article is…
“Study Links Temperature to a Peruvian Glacier’s Growth and
Retreat” by Justin Gillis, covers a topic that people all over the world have
argued about for years, global warming. It is a scientific controversy in which
some people put the blame on the change on temperature while others put the
blame on limited snowfall. The author of the article writes about a new group
of scientist are presenting findings, after years of studies, suggest “temperature
is the main factor” controlling the retreat of ice caps. But not all scientists
are truly convinced that this is true.
Justin Gillis, the author of this wonderful article,
introduces and explains a group led by Justin S. Stroup and Meredith A. Kelly
of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
This group has used elaborate techniques to date the waxing and waning
over the past 500 years of the glacier, Qori Kalis. The team found that
sometimes the glacier grew during periods of time were ice accumulation in the area
was very low and had retreated when ice accumulation was ice. Dr. Kelly and Mr.
Stroup concluded that the glacier is reacting to temperature and the amount of
snowfall is a secondary factor.
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| Qori Kalis, a glacier descending from the Quelccaya ice cap in Peru, is melting rapidly. This image was taken in 2008. Lonnie Thompson/Ohio State University |
But author Justin Gillis throws in his article another group
of scientists that have another take on global warming. They believe that precipitation
can have more of a role than temperature when it comes to glacier growth and retreat.
One interesting point they had was that, glaciers in the tropical regions receive
intense sunlight almost year-round and ice on top of these glaciers can simply
evaporate without turning into a liquid first. So sunlight is their (the
glacier’s) primary factor.
While reading this many connections with Biology class jumped
into my mind. We talked awhile back about human impact on global warming through
car emissions and greenhouse gases and many more. Human emissions have had a
significant impact on our world, and while some are well aware, other may no attention
to it. Global Warming is a problem and human emissions can harm the world immensely.
If we all are aware of the impact we are causing then I believe that people
will start to change and become better citizens of the world. Be the change you
want to see!
Pictography...
"Qori Kalis, a glacier descending from the Quelccaya ice cap in Peru, is melting rapidly." This image was taken in 2008.Lonnie Thompson/Ohio State University, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/26/science/study-links-melting-peruvian-ice-cap-to-higher-temperatures.html?ref=earth
Chris,
ReplyDeleteYour blog post really got me thinking. We've been trying to reduce our emissions, but what if the problem with the ice caps is entirely out of our control? You had very thought-provoking language, such as when you said "The author of the article writes about a new group of scientist are presenting findings, after years of studies, suggest “temperature is the main factor” controlling the retreat of ice caps. But not all scientists are truly convinced that this is true." This type of language made me intrigued to read more. I also liked how you used the words waxing and waning. No one uses those words. Overall, really excellent job!
-Travis
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI thought your connection to class was really great and was very well worded, however, I was a bit confused while reading this post. There were a few mistakes with wording where it made your post difficult to understand. I also thought you could have summarized the article better because I didn't really have a good idea of what the article was about, for I did not read it. Other than that I thought the topic was very interesting and your title was very good. Good job!
I thought your connections to class were amazing. They were very well written and easy to understand. I was a little confused at times, but was able to understand from reading on and then going back and trying to fill in the gaps. This topic could go either way, I'm sure some people feel like the ice caps melting is our own fault because we are too stuck up and feel like we should be in charge of the world, or that the gases and pollutants that are causing this are uncontrollable. I'm one of people who think its our fault, and we need to try harder at stopping it because it is our fault. I thought the topic was very interesting, which made your post fun to read. I thought you did a wonderful job!
ReplyDeleteYour blog post really c aught my interest because of how much research I have done on the subject for school projects. Global warming is a major catastrophe in the making. If we don't do something about it, by the time we stop bickering back and forth whether we are causing it or not it will be too late. Scientist discovered that in the past couple thousands of years the amount of green house gasses has never been as high as it is now. There is also a lot of other evidence that points to human activity being the cause of global warming. I think your blog really showed how we need to do something about this crisis. If we don't start now it will be too late!
ReplyDeleteI thought the article you picked seemed fairly interesting. I like how you summarized the article to a point where i understood the main points of it without over explaining and to a point where i didn't have to read it to know what it was about. I also liked how you picked a very controversial and well known topics. The connects to class tied in nicely with the article and the blog post was neatly and well written. I thought you title was interesting also. I liked how your conclusion left the readers thinking about their par in global warming and their part in the reversal of global warming. Good job!
ReplyDeleteIt very interesting to see another proposal for the retreat of glaciers other than rising temperature. I did not know that there were glaciers in Peru! Although your language was sometimes a bit hard to follow, the cool choice of subject matter (no pun intended) made up for it. Your post presents both arguments very well, and your summarization is excellent. Good.
ReplyDelete