Climate Change and Landforms

Historic Amazon rainforest fires threaten climate and raise risk of new diseases

Climate Change and Landforms

The fires in the Amazon region in 2019 were unprecedented in their destruction. Thousands of fires had burned more than 7,600 square kilometers by October that year. In 2020, things are no better and, in all likelihood, may be worse.

Despite the surge in fires, international attention has waned in 2020, likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet the degradation of the Amazon rainforest has profound consequences from climate change to global health.

The Amazon rainforest covers approximately eight million square kilometers—an area larger than Australia—and is home to an astounding amount of biodiversity.

It helps balance the global carbon budget by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and plays a key role in the global water cycle, stabilizing global climate and rainfall. If the annual fires burning the Amazon are not curtailed, one of the world’s largest carbon sinks will progressively devolve into a carbon faucet, releasing more carbon dioxide than it sequesters.

Damage uncovered on Antarctic glaciers reveals worrying signs for sea level rise

Climate Change and Landforms

A n ew study into the structural damage of two major Antarctic glaciers reveals that ice shelf weakening has rapidly evolved in recent years. Multi-satellite imagery identified damage areas, sparking concerns that structural weakening could lead to major ice shelf collapse in the decades to come. This collapse, in turn, reduces the glaciers’ ability to hold back major sections of the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet from running into the ocean.

Pine Island Glacier and Thwaites Glacier are located in the Amundsen Sea Embayment. The fastest-changing outlet glaciers in the region, they account for Antarctica’s largest contribution to global sea level rise. Scientists have anticipated for at least 20 years that these glaciers will be the first to respond to climate change.

If the ice shelves of these two glaciers collapse, it could trigger large-scale disintegration of the nearby West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which holds enough ice to raise global sea level by about 10 feet. The glaciers provide a natural buffering system that is holding back the enormous ice sheet upstream, but if structural damage is weakening the ice shelves, rapid outflow into the ocean could occur in the coming years.

Six-fold jump in polar ice loss lifts global oceans

Climate Change and Landforms

Greenland and Antarctica are shedding six times more ice than during the 1990s, driving sea level rise that could see annual flooding by 2100 in regions home today to some 400 million people, scientists have warned.

Researchers find newly uncovered Arctic landscape plays important role in carbon cycle

Climate Change and Landforms

As the ice sheet covering most of Greenland retreats, Florida State University researchers are studying the newly revealed landscape to understand its role in the carbon cycle. They explored the composition of dissolved organic carbon in the lakes and streams on the island and found that the newly thawed landscape was feeding these bodies of water with rich carbon sources. This dissolved organic carbon that forms the basis of the microbial food web was then degraded by the intense sunlight that comes during the summer months in Greenland.

“This was a first step toward making projections as the ice sheet retreats in Greenland, and what that means for carbon cycling, especially in aquatic environments in the region”.

How some of Earth’s most breathtaking landscapes are created by glaciers

Climate Change and Landforms

Glaciers have carved some of Earth’s most beautiful landscapes by steeprning and deepening valleys through erosion. Think of the Scottish Highlands, Yosemite National Park in the US, or the Norwegian Fjords. But big questions remain about how glacial erosion works. A problem for scientists seeking to understand how glaciers affect the landscape is that the processes of glacial erosion are very complex and not fully understood.

Why thawing permafrost matters

Climate Change and Landforms

Permafrost is ground that remains frozen for two or more consecutive years. It is composed of rock, soil, sediments, and varying amounts of ice that bind the elements together. Some permafrost has been frozen for tens or hundreds of thousands of years. Found under a layer of soil, permafrost can be from three feet to 4,900 feet thick. It stores the carbon-based remains of plants and animals that froze before they could decompose. Scientists estimate that the world’s permafrost holds 1,500 billion tons of carbon, almost double the amount of carbon that is currently in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, when permafrost warms and thaws, it releases carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. As the global thermostat rises, permafrost, rather than storing carbon, could become a significant source of planet-heating emissions.