22 de maio de 2008

"Glacier Deathwatch": Peru



"Glacier Deathwatch" é o título invocador desta nota do SolveClimate. Penso que vou utilizá-la para todas as notas relativas aos glaciares - neste blogue sob a etiqueta aquecimento global já tenho um conjunto de notas (e fotografias sugestivas) sobre esta temática: todas elas eram susceptíveis de serem intituladas com esta epígrafe: "Glacier Deathwatch" I, "Glacier Deathwatch" II, e assim sucessivamente.


"The images of melting mountain glaciers speak loud and clear... In the 28 years between 1948 and 1976, the range diminished by nine meters. From 1997 until today -- just over one-third of that time -- it has lost 20 meters. Marco Zapata, the head of the glaciology unit of Peru's National Institute for Natural Resources, reminds us ...: "It is known that the shrinking process of the glaciers is irreversible and nothing can be done. Worse yet? Peru had more than 3,000 glaciers in an area of 2,041 square kilometers in 1989. Nine years later, the area was cut by a quarter, to 1,595 square kilometers. Today the loss is markedly greater.

The retreat of the glaciers means the loss of seven billion cubic meters of fresh water, too, reports Peru's
Economic and Social Research Consortium."

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