Tropical Glaciers in Indonesia May Disappear by the End of the Decade
Monday, August 16, 2010 - 13:21
in Earth & Climate
Glaciers in one of the world's last tropical ice caps will be gone within a matter of years , rather than the decades thought previously, according to an Ohio State University researcher who has spent his career probing the world's ice fields. When they go, a unique record of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation phenomenon that drives climate patterns in the tropics could disappear, too, glaciologist Lonnie Thompson said.The cap, perched on a 16,000-foot-high mountain ridge in Indonesia, "was riddled with crevasses and lacked any substantial snowfall," Thompson said of his most recent trip, earlier this summer. [More] Lonnie Thompson - Ohio State University - Indonesia - El Niño-Southern Oscillation - Glaciology