News Flash

Glacier shrinkage faster in South America

By Li Xing (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-12-08 01:08

Cancun, Mexico – Patagonia – the southernmost portion of South America – and the coastal mountain ranges of Alaska are losing massive glaciers at a faster pace and for longer than glaciers in other parts of the world, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) announced on Tuesday.

The findings, compiled by UNEP in partnership with scientists and research centers from around the world, also reveal that glaciers are fast retreating in the northwest United States and southwest Canada, followed by ones in the high mountains of Asia, including the Hindu Kush of the Himalayas, the Andes and the Arctic.

Europe's glaciers have been putting on mass since the mid-1970s but this trend was reversed around the year 2000, the report said.

However, the scientists also discovered that western Norway, New Zealand's South Island and parts of the Tierra del Fuego in South America have experienced higher levels of precipitation, and in some cases the size of glaciers in these places are expanding, the report said.

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