Schuss

September 6, 2006 9:56 AM

Melting glaciers - Once this site stops messing with your windows, there are some views of glaciers. The before and afters are supposed to be (in some cases) 100 years apart - maybe, maybe not - summer v. winter [who knows?] it's pretty harrowing what we're presented with in terms of glacier reduction - if that's what we're looking at here.
posted by tellurian (33 comments total)

What is this, the MTV Music Video Awards?
posted by Artw at 9:59 AM on September 6, 2006

Who are you, the MC?
posted by tellurian at 10:01 AM on September 6, 2006

Wow. This could be scary. Or not. If they are what they say they are, that is. It could be pictures of glaciers melting over some period of time or so, which might be a signifier of something significant. If that's indeed what it is.
posted by Floydd at 10:02 AM on September 6, 2006

Glacier reduction controversial? Yes, but not as much as Glacier enhancement.
posted by CynicalKnight at 10:04 AM on September 6, 2006

Okay, I can see where this is going.
posted by tellurian at 10:05 AM on September 6, 2006

Glaciers don't just disappear in the summer and reappear in the winter.
posted by bshort at 10:07 AM on September 6, 2006

The before and afters are supposed to be (in some cases) 100 years apart - maybe, maybe not

What do you mean by "maybe, maybe not"? The photographs are dated (with one exception). And they're on a tourist website run by the Swiss government, not tree-hugging environmentalists.
posted by russilwvong at 10:15 AM on September 6, 2006

I don't really understand what they're are trying to represent here.
1 Come and see it before it all goes
2 Let's try and stop it
3 A historical - that's how it was and how it is now
4 Profit
posted by tellurian at 10:17 AM on September 6, 2006

Here's some better stuff. Watch as the arctic ice recedes.
posted by fourcheesemac at 10:19 AM on September 6, 2006

(Unfortunately no one actually watches the MTV Music Video Awards, and so my joke is lost...)
posted by Artw at 10:28 AM on September 6, 2006

Anyone who's done any alpine climbing in the Canadian Rockies and attempted to follow the routes described in the venerable AAC "Rocky Mountains of Canada" guidebooks is well aware of how far the N American alpine glaciers have also receded. Some of the route descriptions date back 100 odd years and are now often dangerously wrong, due to the ice and snowpack having vanished.
A route which would have been a relatively straightforward slog up a snowslope in 1910 could now be a dicey scramble on limestone that can be terrifying in its kitty litter-like consistency.
Of course, since this process has been going on independent of human effects on the atmosphere - though no doubt accelerated - it probably does complicate our understanding of climate change.
posted by Flashman at 10:42 AM on September 6, 2006

could a link to interesting photos of glaciers be followed by worse commentary? maybe, maybe not. who knows?
posted by snofoam at 10:43 AM on September 6, 2006

I don't really understand what they're are trying to represent here.
1 Come and see it before it all goes
2 Let's try and stop it
3 A historical - that's how it was and how it is now
4 Profit

But what kind of money does he make? It don't make no sense. Well, he don't make any money, right?
No.
But, then--then he's a nut, right? Do you see--do you see any sense to that?

/kidding
posted by saulgoodman at 10:46 AM on September 6, 2006

elucidate please, Artw [I fear this idle post is lost otherwise]
posted by tellurian at 10:47 AM on September 6, 2006

tellurian: "I don't really understand what they are trying to represent here."

It's a museum exhibit. From the link: "An exhibition of old and new photographs at the Swiss Alpine Museum in Bern documents the gradual disappearance of Switzerland's glaciers." Like most museum exhibits, it's educational.
posted by russilwvong at 11:02 AM on September 6, 2006

Apparently, if Chewbacca lives on Endor, the glaciers are not receding. Otherwise you must acquit!
posted by blue_beetle at 11:12 AM on September 6, 2006

Interesting link, I like the fact that the pictures are very informative but not speculative, it leaves that part up to you.
posted by Vindaloo at 11:14 AM on September 6, 2006

Alright you fuckers. This is what I really wanted to say:
Here are some views of glaciers. The before and afters are about 100 years apart. It brings me to tears when I'm confronted with our treatment of glaciers. We should all be ashamed of ourselves. These pictures will serve as a testimony of our neglect to future generations. Are you ready to accept that or are you going to get off your arse's and do something about it?
For instance, we have had a pretty crap snow season here in oz this year and I reckon I could pick up a bargain on a snow maker for next to nothing. We could club together and regenerate a bunch of glaciers in next to no time. It would be like the Well all over again. Who is with me?
posted by tellurian at 11:32 AM on September 6, 2006

Maybe I'm getting old at age 37 but it's getting painful squinting at sites that put up tiny pictures. They're awesome pictures, though... I was intrigued at the comparisions of Victorian-era scenes and the actual view.
posted by chef_boyardee at 11:35 AM on September 6, 2006

tellurian - Al Gore popped up for a moment or two to show us a fe wpictures of glaciers. As politicians showing up at pop-cultural events to be "down with the kids" goes it was suprisingly non-embarassing, but still seemed oddly out of place.
posted by Artw at 12:13 PM on September 6, 2006

I wouldn't trust that fucker further than I could throw him - and as that old saw goes - that ain't far. Sorry
posted by tellurian at 1:04 PM on September 6, 2006

I think this will be the next big thing in the housing speculation market... ice covered wasteland today... sunny mountain slope condos tomorrow!
posted by wfrgms at 1:07 PM on September 6, 2006

A growing glacier: Mount Shasta bucks global trend, and researchers cite warming phenomena
posted by homunculus at 1:08 PM on September 6, 2006

Like most museum exhibits, it's educational
posted by tellurian at 1:16 PM on September 6, 2006

If you hit a registration wall on the Mount Shasta link, try this. "According to an article last summer in California Wild, a journal of the California Academy of Sciences, Whitney Glacier is the only ice river in the world that is larger today than in 1890."
posted by russilwvong at 1:20 PM on September 6, 2006

Tellurian — Although your topic of retreating glaciers is a good one, I fear this thread is a lost cause. The discussion reminds me of the 1994 Kevin Costner dodo, Rapa Nui, where a group of remaining Easter Islanders (with no trees left for canoes) leave on a melting iceberg, looking for a new home.

In your neck of the woods, how is New Zealand's Franz Josef Glacier doing?
posted by cenoxo at 1:30 PM on September 6, 2006

I was just at the Franz Josef a couple of months back and our guide informed us that despite the global trend the Franz Josef has actually been growing the past couple of years.
posted by jasenlee at 3:15 PM on September 6, 2006

I'm sick and tired of all this bleeding-heart moaning about the poor glaciers. It's called glacial retreat for a reason, people. That means we're winning!
posted by Tullius at 3:27 PM on September 6, 2006

I, for one, am glad to see us getting the upper hand against our glacial overlords.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 4:03 PM on September 6, 2006

Does "Moving at a glacial pace" now mean something is moving backwards in time? (italics mine)
posted by longsleeves at 5:36 PM on September 6, 2006

Franz Josef? Said to be receding at around 30cm per day at the moment. It gets a special mention in Wikipedia. I certainly saw some spectacular and saddening photos of Franz Josef shrinking in the paper recently, but I can't find them online.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 8:10 PM on September 6, 2006

you know, they could just be really dirty. that actually happens.
posted by wumpus at 9:24 PM on September 6, 2006

This summer in Ailefroide (France) we could not find the beginning of a mutipitch-route on the "Glacier Noir" from the year 2000 because the start of the route was now about 15m lower then 6 year ago.
posted by Akeem at 2:47 AM on September 7, 2006