Glaciers and what will happen if they melt

Glaciers are melting faster today as compared to the past many centuries. Why this sudden change? Almost everyone believe that the prime reason for this is sudden and rapid industrialization which in turn has caused global warming - the prime culprit of fast melting glaciers.

Global warming is the rise in average global temperature that has happened over the past century. The 'industrial revolution' is the main cause of this rise in average temperature. The indiscriminate burning of fossil fuels has resulted in extreme atmospheric pollution leading to this condition. Coal is still burnt in huge quantities for various reasons such as electricity production. Burning of oil is a major culprit in the past century. Deforestation has increased to procure wood and make more space available for farming, resulting in an increase in carbon dioxide concentrations. All these pollutants help in trapping more heat in the earth's atmosphere, increasing global temperatures.        

                                                                                                                                                                                        

It is due to this increase in temperature that glaciers are melting more than they actually should. When a glacier melts fully, it exposes the earth below. Glaciers absorb approximately 20% heat from the sun, reflecting back 80%. When the earth gets exposed this percentage gets reversed. This in turn causes a further increase in temperature. This is a vicious trap which has already begun and it will be almost impossible for us to stop it totally.

In the future the global temperature will in all likelihood keep increasing, melting glaciers even faster than they are today.

Faster than normal melting glaciers will cause the streams and rivers to overflow causing flooding. This is a reality that many places have and are currently facing. Those living in close proximity to these rivers will need to relocate. Farmlands get destroyed in these flood waters. Higher up on mountains this excess water creates new ponds. As these ponds keep getting filled with more water they form lakes with the pressure on the boundaries increasing. There is always a threat of these lakes bursting, causing huge floods in villages situated below.

 Once the glacier has totally melted, the streams and rivers will run dry. Farmland will turn dry. Those depending on freshwater from the melting glacier will have to relocate.

Places that depend on the constant flow of this water for the production of electricity will have to look for other sources to produce electricity. This will cause further atmospheric pollution and cost much more to produce.

 Sea levels that have already risen due to warmer waters will rise even further when all this water from melting glaciers empty into the sea. At immediate risk will be to those living in low-lying areas in close vicinity to seashores. These areas will get flooded and sweet groundwater will get polluted with sea water making it unfit for human use. All these people will have to relocate.

Many animals, birds, and fish that depend on the fresh water from glaciers that empty directly into the sea will become endangered. Corals will suffer because of low sunlight due to increasing sea-levels. Fish feeding on these corals will in turn get affected. Animals and birds feeding on these fish will be affected.

There are many more dangers that could crop up due to fast melting glaciers in the coming years if we do not do something to reduce the menace of global warming immediately. Each one of us can play a part in helping reduce harmful emissions, leading to a possible reduction in future global warming.

Cinder Cone & Shield Volcanoes

                                                                                   


Alaska Cinder Cone

 


Cinder Cone

In a cinder cone, lava erupts from a small vent in the crust and 'sprays' melted rock fragments into the air where they then fall back to earth in a pile. These rock fragments are glassy, gas-filled chunks of lava called cinders or scoria that cool rapidly as they sail through the air and land next to the vent opening, slowly accumulating in the geometric shape of a cone. Some of the most dramatic volcanic eruptions are these displays of lava fountains shooting sparkling, glowing glass-like rock fragments into the air from cinder cones. 





Hawaiian Shield Volcano



Shield volcanoes are the more quiescent, lumbering giants of the volcano world. Although these types of volcanoes are not small by any means, the eruptions they produce can be pretty "ho hum" compared to the enormous explosive potential of the Extreme Volcanoes. The biggest single mountain in the world is a shield volcano that was slowly built up from the floor of the Pacific Ocean over hundreds of thousands of years.

This massive mountain rises just over 13,000 feet from the surface of the Pacific Ocean, but from its true base on the sea bed Mauna Loa towers over 33,000 feet tall. Mauna Loa is one of five massive shield volcanoes that make up the Big Island of Hawaii. This towering giant had some pretty humble beginnings.

The Cinder Cone Volcano is the classic, cone-shaped peaks we commonly associate with a lava-spewing eruption. Eruptions from cinder cones are pretty small potatoes, as far as volcanic eruptions go. They tend to be small, hill-sized volcanoes that range in height from tens to hundreds of meters high and they can build up over short periods of a few months to a few years. Cinder cones are characterized by their steeply angled sides and conical shapes. In fact, these mini-volcanoes are most often found on the flanks of larger, mountain-sized volcanic peaks.

A shield volcano like Mauna Loa owes its shape to the way the lava erupts from a vent in the earths crust that begins as a fissure, or crack. Pockets of superheated magma well up from beneath the crust, causing it to bulge upward. As the sea floor bulges from the movement of the magma, cracks form in the crust, sort of like the way the top of a cake cracks as it bakes in the oven. These fissures in the crust become weak areas of thin crust that give way to the upward force of the magma, eventually allowing it to break through. The overlying weight and pressure of the ocean water affects the way the magma emerges from fissures in the sea floor. The runny lava oozes out of the fissures and spreads out around the crack, cooling as it contacts the seawater. This slow and gradual accumulation of thin layers of lava builds up over long periods of time, forming a long, shield-shaped volcano.

A shield volcano like Mauna Loa owes its shape to the way the lava erupts from a vent in the earths crust that begins as a fissure, or crack. Pockets of superheated magma well up from beneath the crust, causing it to bulge upward. As the sea floor bulges from the movement of the magma, cracks form in the crust, sort of like the way the top of a cake cracks as it bakes in the oven. These fissures in the crust become weak areas of thin crust that give way to the upward force of the magma, eventually allowing it to break through. The overlying weight and pressure of the ocean water affects the way the magma emerges from fissures in the sea floor. The runny lava oozes out of the fissures and spreads out around the crack, cooling as it contacts the seawater. This slow and gradual accumulation of thin layers of lava builds up over long periods of time, forming a long, shield-shaped volcano.

Shield volcanoes are not the only type of volcano that forms on the ocean floor, nor are all shield volcanoes formed only in the sea. As shield volcanoes like the Hawaiian Islands build up from the sea floor they are known as sea mounts - undersea mountains. But once they reach the surface of the sea they become islands. As the eruptions of fluid lava continue unimpeded by the weight of overlying seawater, the runny nature of the liquid lava continues to build wide mountains with long, gentle slopes. Basalt lava tends to build enormous, low-angle cones because it flows across the ground easily and can form lava tubes that enable lava to flow tens of kilometers from an erupting vent with very little cooling.

Composite Volcanoes

     Composite volcanoes also known as stratovolcanoes make up some of the most know volcanoes that we have here on earth. A composite volcano is made up of many layers of harden lava and volcano ash of eruptions that have already taken place. That is usually why they can make such peaks that they have because of the constant overlapping that occurs. They really make beautiful mountains and draw people close to them and that usually isn’t good because when these volcanoes blow they are usually violent and have a higher number of casualties than other volcanoes.

            Like said before composite volcanoes are made of an overlapping of lava that comes out when there is an explosion. All the lava that comes out during like miner explosions usually doesn’t get to far so what is left just keeps getting piled and piled on top of each other. While the lava keeps piling up this is what causes for the high steep tops of these volcanoes. Also during these eruptions cinder bombs and blocks are thrown out and so when the next eruption occurs the lava flows cement these all together also adding height to the volcano.

These volcanoes mostly always have a violent eruption. The eruption is caused by the viscous magma, when it rises to the top it usually clogs up the crater pipe and gases in the crater pipe get lock up. So the pressure will increase and the magnitude of the eruption. During these eruptions the volcanoes will throw out debris, have lots of lava flow they can also causes landslide, avalanches and even tsunamis. The eruptions of these volcanoes cause the most damage than any of the rest. Some of the most well know volcano eruptions are from composite volcanoes like Mt. St Helens, Mt.Fuji and Mt. Etna.

Snow and Snowstorms

Snow is always seen during the winter. Kids like to make snowman and I myself haven’t gotten to experience snow.  In the United States snow is seen up in the north.  Even northern Arizona sees snow. Snow is frozen water that falls from the sky. All snow flakes have six sides, but no two snow flakes are the same. Snow is precipitation in the form of small white ice crystals. Snow is formed from the water vapor in the air at a temperature of less than 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

As snow looks harmless there are other things that are caused by snow and wind together. A snowstorm is when snow falls from the sky as precipitation. A blizzard is the worst kind of snowstorm, in which strong winds blow snow into snowdrifts (huge piles) that can bury people and possessions. Its official definition is a tempestuous, frigid snow storm with blustery, piercing winds of 35 miles per hour or more and a wind-chill factor as low as -20º Fahrenheit. Transportation is difficult and dangerous during blizzards because air temperatures can be 10ºF or lower, with visibility less than 400-500 feet. When there is no much snow that people and animals cannot tell the earth from the sky, it is known as a whiteout. In this disoriented state, humans and livestock can lose their way and freeze to death. Blizzards carry the risk of hypothermia, frost bite, suffocation, and being stranded. Sub-zero temperatures, arctic conditions, and 100 mph winds in mountainous regions pose additional threats. Snowstorms happen when a mass of very cold air moves away from the Polar Regions. When it collides with a warm air mass, the warm air rises quickly and the cold air cuts underneath it. This causes a huge cloud bank to form, leading to heavy snowfall. Snow will only fall from the cloud if the temperature of the air between the bottom of the cloud and the ground is below 40ºF. A higher temperature will cause the snowflakes to melt as they fall through the air, turning them into rain or sleet. Snowflakes form when ice crystals collide in a cloud and stick together. Every snowflake has six sides, and no two snowflakes that fall are exactly alike. Their varying shapes are a result of the different weather conditions in which they are produced. Needle and rod shapes are formed by cold air, while warmer air results to more complicated patterns.

Hail

Corn Crop after hail storm

On November third two thousand and ten, there were reports of hail damage in the states of Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas.  Hail has caused one billion dollars of damage for property and crops each year in the United States.  At times a piece of hail can be as big as a baseball. On April 10, 2001 Kansas City had a hail storm, which cost United States $2 billion for the damage. A small hail storm can damage the plants even though people may think it is not important. U.S. hail is most common in the area where Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming meet, known as "Hail Alley." Parts of this region average between seven and nine hail days a year.

   

 

Hail is formed in huge cumulonimbus clouds, commonly known as thunderheads. The development of hail starts inside a thunderstorm. Where there are strong updrafts of warm air and downdrafts of cold air. If water droplets are present the can be carried to the freezing level with temperatures that reach below 32F and the droplets will freeze. The frozen droplets are carried by the cold downdrafts and as it travels downward it may melt into warmer air toward the bottom of the thunderstorm. A repetition of the frozen droplet being carried up by an updraft and taken to the freezing level will add another layer of ice which creates HAIL. With the several layers the ice, the hail fall to the ground.

The size of hail is not so different from a raindrop. Mostly hail is 2inches in diameter or less. The largest hailstone fell on June 23, 2003 in Aurora, Nebraska and had a diameter of  7.0 inches, a circumference of 18.75 inches, and weighed just under 1 lb. The heaviest hailstone fell in Coffeeville, Kansas on September3, 1970 and weighed 1.67 lbs.  It had a diameter of 5.7 inches and a circumference of 17.5 inches.

Tsunami

There are several events that have happened that have an affect on the place that was hit and for people that live in the west coast to be aware that one day it can happen to them. The tsunami of 2004 in India, I remember that all my family would tell me that if a tsunami hits I will be first to be taken. My aunt´s family lives in Santa Ana California while I lived on the west coast of Newport Beach. I came to believe that I wave would actually take my house and I would be floating by my cousin´s house. As a child I had a big imagination.

The phenomenon "tsunami" is a series of traveling ocean waves of extremely long length generated by disturbances associated primarily with earthquakes occurring below or near the ocean floor. Underwater volcanic eruptions and landslides can also generate tsunamis. In the deep ocean, their length from wave crest to wave crest may be a hundred miles or more but with a wave height of only a few feet or less. They cannot be felt aboard ships nor can they be seen from the air in the open ocean. In deep water, the waves may reach speeds exceeding 500 miles per hour.
Tsunamis are a threat to life and property to anyone living near the ocean. For example, in 1992 and 1993 over 2,000 people were killed by tsunamis occurring in Nicaragua, Indonesia and Japan. Property damage was nearly one billion dollars. The 1960 Chile Earthquake generated a Pacific-wide tsunami that caused widespread death and destruction in Chile, Hawaii, Japan and other areas in the Pacific. Large tsunamis have been known to rise over 100 feet, while tsunamis 10 to 20 feet high can be very destructive and cause many deaths and injuries.
The Tsunami Warning System in the Pacific, comprised of 26 participating international Member States, monitors seismological and tidal stations throughout the Pacific Basin. The System evaluates potentially tsunamigenic earthquakes and disseminates tsunami warning information. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTW) is the operational center of the Pacific TWS. Located in Honolulu, Hawaii, PTWC provides tsunami warning information to national authorities in the Pacific Basin.

CYCLONES

Hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons are tropical cyclones with maximum sustained wind speed exceeding 119 km/h near their centres, and every year responsible of thousands of victims.

"Hurricane", "cyclone" and "typhoon" are different terms for the same weather phenomenon which is accompanied by torrential rain and maximum sustained wind speeds exceeding 119 kilometers per hour. In the western North Atlantic, central and eastern North Pacific, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, such a weather phenomenon is called "hurricane". In the western North Pacific, it is called "typhoons". In the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea, it is called “cyclone". In western South Pacific and southeast India Ocean, it is called “severe tropical cyclone.” In the southwest India Ocean, it is called “tropical cyclone.”

Between 1886 and 1998, out of the 566 Atlantic hurricanes in the Atlantic, twenty two have grown as strong as to become Category 5 hurricanes with maximum sustained wind speeds exceeding 249 km/h. The worst recent tropical cyclones include Hurricane Mitch (Honduras) in 1998, Hurricane Katrina (USA) in 2005 and most recently hurricane Gustav (Haiti) in 2008, and severe cyclone Nargis (Myanmar) in 2008.

The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season was devastating, with casualties and widespread destruction in the Caribbean, Central America and the United States of America. For the first time on record, six consecutive tropical cyclones made landfall on the United States of America, and two major hurricanes (Gustav and Ike) hit Cuba.

In the East Pacific, sixteen named tropical cyclones were recorded in 2008, of which seven evolved into hurricanes and two of them into major hurricanes at Category 3 or higher. In the Western North Pacific, twenty two named tropical cyclones were recorded in 2008, ten of which were classified as typhoons compared to the long-term average of twenty seven and fourteen, respectively.

The Western North Pacific has been hit several times in September - October 2009 by numerous typhoons such as Ondoy, Ketsana, Parma, Lupit and Mirinae, causing many casualties.