#glaciers and climate change

[adomainname]

Glacier Calving: The Powerful Force Behind Massive Waves and Climate Change Insights

Glaciers, those monumental rivers of ice flowing from high mountain peaks and polar regions, are not only stunningly beautiful but also hold incredible, often unpredictable power. Among the most captivating and intense events involving glaciers is glacier calving—a natural process where enormous ice chunks break away from a glacier’s edge and crash into surrounding water. This dramatic phenomenon not only creates an unforgettable visual display but also generates massive waves. In this article, we’ll explore glacier calving, what causes it, the powerful waves it creates, and the broader implications for ecosystems, human activity, and climate science.

What is Glacier Calving?

Definition: What is Glacier Calving?

Glacier calving is the process where large pieces of ice detach from a glacier's edge and fall into the adjacent water. These ice chunks vary in size, from small pieces to massive blocks as large as multi-story buildings. Calving is a powerful and visually spectacular event that can produce waves felt miles away.

Where Does Glacier Calving Occur?

Calving occurs most frequently at the terminus (the end) of glaciers that extend into bodies of water like lakes, oceans, or fjords. It’s most common in polar regions, such as Greenland and Antarctica, where glaciers meet the sea. These environments allow ice chunks to break off and fall into the water, forming waves that can be incredibly powerful and far-reaching.

How Does Glacier Calving Happen?

Calving happens due to the natural movement of glaciers. As a glacier moves forward, driven by gravity, the ice at its edge becomes thinner and fractures. Over time, these fractures deepen, eventually causing large chunks of ice to break away. The forward motion pushes these ice chunks towards bodies of water, where they drop, creating an impactful and sudden splash.

The Science Behind Glacier Calving and Wave Formation

Ice Dynamics and Fracture Mechanics

The constant advance of glaciers creates stress along their edges, leading to cracks and fractures in the ice. When the ice reaches a critical fracture point, large sections break off. This detachment causes sudden displacement as the ice hits the water, creating waves that can be extremely powerful.

How Does Glacier Calving Generate Waves?

When an ice chunk detaches and crashes into the water, it displaces the water around it, creating a splash and powerful shockwaves. The size and intensity of the resulting wave depend on the size of the ice chunk. Larger ice pieces create more significant waves, capable of traveling far distances.

Wave Propagation in Glacier Fjords and Bays

Once a calving event occurs, the waves created by the impact move outward from the point of collision. In confined areas, like fjords or bays, these waves can be particularly intense. They bounce off rock walls, sometimes becoming even larger and more forceful, and can travel for kilometers, posing a danger to anything in their path.

The Impact of Calving Waves on Ecosystems and Human Activity

Environmental Impact: How Calving Waves Affect Marine Ecosystems

Calving waves can have a significant effect on local ecosystems. The waves stir up the seabed, displacing marine organisms and disturbing habitats. Over time, repeated calving events can also erode coastal areas, affecting both flora and fauna in the surrounding environment.

Human Implications: Why Calving Waves Are Dangerous

For people living in or near glacier regions, calving waves can pose severe risks. Fishing vessels, research ships, and tourist boats are especially vulnerable, as calving waves have capsized boats and caused substantial damage in the past. Coastal communities near glaciers or fjords may also feel the impact of these waves, making it important for ships and local authorities to remain vigilant.

Climate Change and Glacier Calving: A Connection with Global Implications

Climate change is accelerating glacier calving worldwide. Rising temperatures cause glaciers to melt and thin, making them more prone to calving events. This not only increases the frequency of calving but also contributes to global sea level rise as more ice melts and enters the ocean. Areas like Greenland and Antarctica, where calving is occurring at unprecedented rates, are contributing significantly to rising seas—a growing concern for coastal cities and communities worldwide.

Notable Glacier Calving Events and Their Massive Waves

To understand the sheer power of glacier calving, let’s look at some notable glaciers known for their spectacular calving events.

Jakobshavn Glacier, Greenland: One of the fastest-moving glaciers globally, Jakobshavn has witnessed some of the largest calving events on record. Chunks of ice as large as skyscrapers break off, creating waves that can be felt miles away.

Hubbard Glacier, Alaska: This Alaskan glacier is known for periodic large calving events that generate waves affecting cruise ships and other vessels in nearby fjords. This glacier’s movements attract scientists and tourists alike, both drawn by its power and potential risks.

Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica: As a significant contributor to ice loss in Antarctica, Pine Island Glacier’s calving events are substantial enough to be detected by seismometers thousands of miles away, showcasing the global scale of calving’s impact.

Fascination and Caution: Observing Glacier Calving Events

The Appeal of Glacier Tourism

For many tourists, witnessing a glacier calving event is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The intense sound—often compared to a thunderous "crack" or "roar"—followed by a massive splash and radiating waves, creates a powerful, memorable scene. Locations such as Alaska, Greenland, and certain parts of Antarctica are popular destinations for this reason.

Safety Precautions for Viewing Glacier Calving Events

Despite their allure, calving events are highly unpredictable, and the waves they generate can be dangerous. Tourism operators and guides near glaciers must take strict precautions, maintaining safe distances from glaciers to ensure the safety of visitors. Special care is necessary for boats, as the waves can capsize small vessels that venture too close.

The Future of Glacier Calving and Its Impact on Sea Level Rise

As climate change continues to increase global temperatures, glaciers worldwide are expected to retreat and calve more frequently. This trend not only raises the likelihood of dangerous waves but also leads to long-term impacts, such as accelerated sea-level rise. Glacier calving events remind us of the urgent need to address climate change and mitigate its effects on our planet’s natural systems.

Conclusion: Glacier Calving as a Reminder of Nature’s Power

In summary, glacier calving is a breathtaking natural event and a powerful force with significant environmental, social, and scientific implications. From the thunderous crash of falling ice to the waves that ripple across fjords and bays, glacier calving captivates us while serving as a stark reminder of the interconnectedness of Earth’s natural systems. As climate change continues to reshape our world, glacier calving highlights the need to understand and preserve these fragile ice giants that are vital to our planet’s health and future.

By understanding glacier calving, its causes, and its consequences, we not only gain insight into one of nature’s most spectacular displays but also increase our awareness of the urgent climate issues facing our planet today.

Go To The Power of Glacier Calving

[politijohn]

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[mindblowingscience]

At the foot of Pakistan's impossibly high mountains whitened by frost all year round, farmers grappling with a lack of water have created their own ice towers. Warmer winters as a result of climate change have reduced the snowfall and subsequent seasonal snowmelt that feeds the valleys of Gilgit-Baltistan, a remote region home to K2, the world's second-highest peak. Farmers in the Skardu valley, at an altitude of up to 2,600 meters (8,200 feet) in the shadow of the Karakoram mountain range, searched online for help in how to irrigate their apple and apricot orchards.

Continue Reading.

[victusinveritas]

Did you know the “ice age” never completely finished?

By that I mean… you know the ice sheet that grinded Canada down to bedrock? The one that sat a mile high over Boston? The one that dug out the Great Lake basins? The one that pushed deep into North America, forming massive proglacial lakes and changing the courses of river systems?

That ice sheet still exists.

Sort of.

In Inuit territory, on the great island known as Qikiqtaaluk, you can lick the last, ancient icepop left from that continent-sized ice sheet that once smothered North America like a blanket.

Known as the Barnes Ice Cap, it’s the last fragment left of the mighty Laurentide Ice Sheet. And it’s melting FAST.

It will likely outlive me- but not by much. It’s like a 20,000-year-old ice cream cone, and we’ve dropped it on the hot pavement. In our rapidly warming world, it will likely be completely gone within a century or two.

Its contribution to global sea level rise won’t be particularly significant- it’s a rounding error compared to the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets.

But to me, it’s like some kind of impossibly ancient alabaster tortoise;

a witness of unknown epochs of history;

critically endangered;

the last living of its kind;

doomed to perch up high on its mountain, drooling, panting, feverish, baked by the sun in a carbon blanket;

until it finally expires, leaving only bare rock and gravel for a grave:

no trace left of an ice age that covered a continent.

Found here on Facebook.

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Tracking Meltwater Through Flex

Greenland's ice sheet holds enough water to raise global sea levels by several meters. Each year meltwater from the sheet percolates through the ice, filling hidden pools and crevasses on its way to draining into the sea.  (Image credit: T. Nylen; research credit: J. Ran et al.; via Eos) Read the full article

[thererisesaredstar]

Hong Hyo Song, "Glacier Preservation", Pyongyang Times, March 22, 2025:

March 22 is World Water Day. The UN General Assembly designated World Water Day in order to raise the awareness of many people on the Earth living without safe water and to spur people into global actions to resolve the water crisis. What is important here is to achieve the sustainable development goal of providing clean water and hygiene for everyone by 2030. The theme of World Water Day of this year is "Glacier Preservation". As is known, glaciers play an important role in the water cycle. They are one of the major sources of water for drinking, agriculture, industry, clean energy production and ecosystems. Seventy percent of the world's fresh water is stored in glaciers. They also contribute to the circulation of sea water and the control of carbon dioxide and nutrients, and reflect a great deal of solar radiation to prevent the Earth from getting too hot. In recent years, however, climate change and global warming have melted them at a rapid rate to reduce the ice area of the Earth and the water cycle has become extremely irregular and unpredictable. If temperature rises due to climate change, the glaciers will melt at a faster rate. In the past 130 years, glaciers on the Earth have been observed in a variety of ways, including in-situ measurements and remote monitoring. Recent data have shown that the loss of glaciers caused by climate change has doubled over the past two decades and that if such rate persists, the glaciers in the Andes and Himalayas might disappear by 2100. The melting of glaciers raises sea level, which has a serious impact on populated areas and ecosystems. According to the data, sea level at present is 20 centimetres higher than in 1900. Glacier melting also changes the flow of water to give rise to frequent floods, droughts and landslides and to destroy ecosystems and reduces the area reflecting sunlight to accelerate global warming. The UN General Assembly session held in December 2022 designated 2025 as an international glacier preservation year and adopted a resolution on designating March 21 as World Glacier Day from 2025. This initiative is aimed at increasing awareness of the important role of glaciers, snow and ice in climate and water cycle and the influence of the changes in the cold zone of the Earth on the economy, society and environment. It is also designed to encourage good practice and sharing of knowledge related to resolving the problem of accelerating glacier melting and its consequences. The United Nations and other international organizations have developed various strategies for mitigating the impact of climate change, advocating the need to reduce greenhouse gas emission and adopt adaptation and mitigation strategies in order to protect and preserve glaciers that constitute an important freshwater resource and stabilize climate. Such strategies include the reduction of greenhouse gas emission geared to keeping global temperature from rising by over 1.5°C more than that in the pre-industrial revolution period, the improvement of water utilization efficiency through enhanced water resource management, the establishment of a drought- and flood-resistant agricultural system, diversification of the regional economy and the improvement of the disaster response system. Conserving glaciers is a vital issue for the existence and development of mankind.

[americanaclassic]

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Some of the smallest of Glacier National Park's namesake glaciers may disappear within the next 10 to 20 years.

PHOTOGRAPH BY KEITH LADZINSKI

[contemplatingoutlander]

Interesting proposal by Nate Loewentheil in a guest column in The New York Times. Not only was his proposal thought provoking, but two of the comments regarding it by readers were also worth contemplating. Below are some excerpts from the column, followed by the two comments.

Here is a proposal for the environmental movement: Pool philanthropic funds for a day, buy a small plot of land in Washington, D.C., and put up a tall marble wall to serve as a climate memorial. Carve on this memorial the names of public figures actively denying the existence of climate change. Carve the names so deep and large, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren need not search the archives. This is not a metaphor. The problem with climate change is the disconnect between action and impact. If politicians vote against construction standards and a school collapses, the next election will be their last. But with climate change, cause and effect are at a vast distance. We are already seeing the consequences of our past and present greenhouse gas emissions. In coming decades, those emissions will wreak their full havoc on the climate, and it will take hundreds, possibly thousands, of years for those pollutants to fully dissipate. But in the short term, the most immediate burdens are borne mostly by the poor in America and distant people in distant lands. Misaligned incentives are at the heart of why some political and business leaders deny and delay. [...] I would first nominate those who have sown confusion over climate science, like Myron Ebell, who recently retired as director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute���s Center for Energy and Environment, where he sought to block climate change efforts in Congress, and served as the head of Donald Trump’s transition team for the Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. Ebell has argued that the idea that climate change is “an existential threat or even crisis is preposterous.” Then there are lawmakers who have consistently stood in the way of federal action, like the recently retired senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the author of the book “The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future.” [color emphasis added]

Below is the first thought provoking comment to this article:

There is, in Iceland, a memorial to a dead glacier - the Ok Glacier. It reads: "Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier. In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it." [color emphasis added] --Chris D., Colorado

Photo of the plaque at the at the Okjökull (OK Glacier) memorial.

Here is the second thought provoking comment to this article:

For reference this graph https://i.redd.it/ljifc828iui31.jpg is from the Exxon internal scientific report on climate change, 1982, produced by scientists working for that fossil fuel corporation. Look at what their graph predicted for 2020. Approaching 420 ppm CO2 and a rise of 1.2 C degrees above pre-industrial temperature - very close to what we actually got in 2020. Then look at what the graph shows for later this century, based on not reducing emissions. Very serious temperature rises, that could make agriculture very difficult in many countries. Yes, and then Exxon, having seen this, got involved in PR campaigns to "cast doubt" on climate science, to protect their assets. [color emphasis added] --Erik Frederiksen, Ashville, NC

1982 Exxon graph depicting average global temperature increases over time correlating with increases in atmospheric CO2. NOTE: Graph color was modified for greater clarity.

Fossil fuel companies like Exxon, and fossil fuel oligarchs like the Koch brothers should be included in any "Climate Wall of Shame."

[anniekoh]

A plaque at the base of what once was the Okjökull glacier, also known as the Ok glacier, which in 2014 became the first Icelandic glacier to disappear due to climate change (source)

The memorial plaque, written by prominent Icelandic writer Andri Snaer Magnason, reads:

A letter to the future Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier. In the next 200 years, all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and know what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it. August 2019 415ppm CO2

[arya-kamon]

Echoes of Melting Giants: A Journey through Fragile Landscapes

In the heart of the Alps, where glaciers once stood proud, the scars of climate change are unmistakable. Journey through Val di Sole to Passo del Tonale, where history and nature intertwine. The remnants of the White War echo in a sensory museum within a cave, while the sight of retreating glaciers and makeshift tarps highlight humanity’s struggle against environmental degradation. This poignant narrative urges a reflection on our role in preserving these fragile landscapes for future generations.

Discover more: Full Life Expedition 🏔️🥾

[cognitivejustice]

First World Day for Glaciers was celebrated on 21 March 2025

The 2025 global campaign for the World Day for Glaciers and World Water Day, will highlight the various impacts of glacier changes on downstream communities and ecosystems, and the urgent need for developing water-related adaptation strategies in areas affected by shrinking or disappearing glaciers, more transboundary cooperation and community engagement, alongside continued support for ambitious reductions in fossil fuel consumption.

[leclercskiesahead]

Pretty in blue and white

[mindblowingscience]

The melting of Greenland’s glaciers have increased fivefold in the past 20 years, a new study shows. They are currently losing 25 meters (around 82 feet) every year. In the 80s and 90s, glaciers shrank by an average of about five meters a year. Researchers say the finding eliminates any lingering doubts about the impact of climate change on Greenland’s more than 20,000 glaciers. The study appears in Nature Climate Change. The new study shows the response of Greenland’s glaciers to climate change over a 130-year period. The past two decades stand out in particular, as melting during this period increased even more dramatically. A number of studies in recent years have shown that Greenland’s largest glaciers are under massive pressure due to climatic changes and rising temperatures. However, doubts remained about the extent of the melting glaciers, of which there are approx. 22,000 in Greenland, partly due to inadequate measurement methods.

Continue Reading.

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Slushy Snow Affects Antarctic Ice Melt

More than a tenth of Antarctica's ice projects out over the sea; this ice shelf preserves glacial ice that would otherwise fall into the Southern Ocean and raise global sea levels. But austral summers eat away at the ice, leaving meltwater collected in ponds (visible above in bright blue) and in harder-to-spot slush.  (Image credit: Copernicus Sentinel/R. Dell; research credit: R. Dell et al.; via Physics Today) Read the full article