Bolivia’s Chacaltaya Glacier, once known as the world’s highest ski run at 17,388 feet, has completely melted away, serving as a vivid example of the effects of climate change on the glaciers around the globe.

“Chacaltaya has disappeared. It no longer exists.” - Dr. Edson Ramirez, Institute of Hydraulics and Hydrology at the Universidad Mayor de San Andres

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Researchers in have discovered ancient, extremophile life forms that survive with neither light nor oxygen underground in Antarctica.

From the surface, the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Eastern Antarctica appears to be one of the most desolate places on Earth. And indeed it is. Apart from a few glaciers, the land is ice-free. No animals live here, and what few plants are able to are simple planktonic forms. But recently, a team of researchers have discovered evidence of a thriving community of extremophile microbes thriving several hundred feet below the barren surface.

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On November 11th, Argentinian President Cristina Fernández vetoed a previously passed bill aimed at protecting Argentina’s glaciers.

The bill, entitled The Law of Minimum Budgets for the Protection of Glaciers and Periglacial Environment, had been passed overwhelmingly despite concerns from governors of affected provinces and Argentina’s Secretariat of Mines that the bill’s provisions would prevent mining development.

The glacier protection bill would have:

1. Established basic standards to preserve glaciers as strategic reserves of hydric resources and water supplies; and
2. Prohibited activities that would prevent the glaciers from acting as water supplies.

Some of the activities that would have been severely curtailed in glacial environments would have been mining (including gold, copper, aluminum, iron and steel, and others), oil and gas exploration and exploitation, general construction activities, and the release of any substances that would have a detrimental effect on glaciers.

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Ever since I first saw Ernie and almost the entire felt-cast of Sesame Street do “The Rubber Duck, Duck” dance on Sesame Street, I have had a strange fascination with rubber ducks. They aren’t the common toy here in Australia that they appear to be elsewhere. And though looking back at that video now presents me with a bit of a moral and architectural dilemma, considering just how many people are naked together in that tub, my love for the rubber duck continues.

And now, once again, the rubber duck is coming to the aid of science. US rocket scientist Alberto Behar of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California has sent 90 rubber ducks into the Jakobshavn Glacier in Greenland in an attempt to figure out what is happening inside Greenland’s fastest moving glacier.

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Researchers who have been monitoring daily satellite images of Greenland’s glaciers from Ohio State University have discovered break-ups at two of the largest glaciers within the last month.

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When we think about a problem as daunting as glacier melt, it’s tempting to throw up our hands and say that there’s nothing to be done. But researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany disagree. 27 students from the school recently set up a large structure in the Swiss Alps in an attempt to trap cold air over the Rhone glacier.

The giant windshield measures 49 feet by 10 feet (15 metres long and 10 meters high). The university says the shield has already been successfully tested in a laboratory.

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The Swiss Alpine Museum in Bern is hosting a photographic exhibition which documents the gradual disappearance of many of Switzerland’s glaciers. Featuring contrasting photos of Swiss landscapes over the last 100 years the pictures reveal the full extent of glacial retreat in some regions.

See the dramatic contrasts between old and new at the melting glaciers picture gallery.

Photo of the Matterhorn Glacier courtesy of Flickr.
Owing to the extreme conditions, the community is not very diverse-with only a handful of species appearing, chief of which are the bacillus-like species thiomicrospira and desulfocapsa. These unique microbes are specially adapted to the underground environment and are able to utilize sulfur compounds to extract iron from the surrounding rock, which, along with carbon, is actively cycled through the cell to drive its key energy-harnessing and metabolic functions. Once excreted, the iron reacts with oxygen (in the water) and forms rust, which is the reason for the rusty-reddish color of the meltwater, and the name Blood Falls). The microbes are also adapted to an environment high in chlorides and sulfates, which are normally poisonous to many other microorganisms.

Such rare and isolated microbial communities give scientists a glimpse of the conditions on the early Earth that may have produced the first single-celled life forms. Scientist known as astrobiologists believe that by studying such extremophilic environments and organisms here on earth, they might shed light on the possibility of finding such lifeforms–or the “proto-biotic” environments that give rise to them–existing on other worlds,  starting with those of our own solar system. Candidate, extra-terrestrial environments include: underneath the icecaps of Mars,  within the ice-blanketed oceans of Jupiter’s moon Europa, or amongst the underground, and the sub-surface, cryo-volcanic flows of Saturn’s “planet-like” moon, Titan (the only moon possessing an atmosphere).

Reporting in the April 17 edition of Science Magazine, the team of explorers was lead by Jill Mikucki of Dartmouth College, New Hampshire (also of the University of Montana, and Harvard University), with support from the National Science Foundation.

Image credit: Zina Deretsky/NSF

The Great Aletsch is the largest and longest glacier in Europe, and forms part of a region in southwestern Switzerland that was named a United Nations Natural World Heritage Site in 2001. The site, which was enlarged this year, is situated in the Bernese Alps and consists of mountainous terrains that harbor a variety of ecosystems and a precious diversity of plant and animal species. The area as a whole, and the Aletsch Glacier in particular, is highly threatened by climate change.

According to Pro Natura, the conservation non-profit organization that runs the Aletsch Ecological Center, since the last ice age some 11,000 years ago, the glacier has been slowly retreating. But, there have also been times when it advanced. For example, in 1860 the glacier was 1.8 miles longer than it is now and about 650 feet higher. Today, due to the clearly visible effects of climate change, the Aletsch glacier is retreating at an alarming rate, losing 50 meters or around 165 feet a year. At that rate, not only the Aletsch but also most of the world’s glaciers are predicted to disappear by 2080.

By photographing the large assembly of naked people on the Alestch, Tunick said he aimed to draw a link between the human body and the glacier, and to highlight the vulnerability of both in the face of climate change. Members of Greenpeace organized the event: they recruited the six hundred participants as volunteers through their website, negotiated with local authorities, and managed the logistics of the photo shoot. The volunteers came mainly from across Switzerland, but some traveled from neighboring countries to take part in the mass installation art.

Vincent Donzé, a journalist for the Swiss newspaper Le Matin, described his experience as a volunteer. Tunick and his team of six assistants, the organizers from Greenpeace and the six hundred volunteers hiked up for several hours to reach the Aletsch. At an altitude of around 7545 feet, the volunteers stripped and, at Tunick’s command, took up different poses: standing by the edge of the glacier, standing spread out across the ice, or lying down and huddled together. They made use of slippers and pillows provided by Greenpeace to guard against the cold as they walked or lay on the glacier, and the air temperature hovered at around 10° Celsius or 50° Fahrenheit.

Another journalist for Le Matin reported that Greenpeace paid Tunick more than 20,000 Swiss francs, about $16,600, a sum that covers fees for the artist and his six assistants, and buys half of the rights for the photographs, which will be used for a Greenpeace publicity campaign in the near future. The artist will also sell his pictures to art dealers for thousands or possibly tens of thousands of dollars.

Reflecting on the costs of mounting such an eco-artistic project - the time, effort and money involved - raises the question: how effective was it? You might argue that the aim of raising awareness about climate change was reached, because the story of the six hundred naked people on a melting glacier made international news, featuring, for example, on the BBC and in major American and European newspapers. Or you might wonder what percentage of those who saw or read reports on the event had previously been unaware of climate change.

In other words, what kinds of response did the reports and the accompanying media photos incite? One reader, Jean-Pierre, wrote to a Swiss newspaper asking whether the impact of the project was significant enough to justify the energy consumed and the emissions produced, before, during and after the photo shoot. He doubted that Tunick and the volunteers had paused to consider the energy and the CO2 expended in the process.

These arguments and others lead us to ponder the more general issue of the role art plays in the green movement. I believe art can play a powerful role in furthering awareness and encouraging action on the various environmental challenges we are faced with. The story of 600 naked people on a Swiss glacier has caused a stir in the media, and it doesn’t end there. The resulting nude photos will drive the Greenpeace publicity campaign, and will be featured in galleries and museums, thereby reaching a wide audience.

We need not seek to quantify the contribution of a particular work of art, for we would be missing the point entirely. Eco-art and art for the environment should be vigorously but judiciously promoted. So, while we cultivate the development of green art, we must also be wary of vacuous gimmicks and inane publicity stunts that masquerade as creativity with conscience.

Image source: 24 Heures

Greenpeace

BBC

Le Matin

Owing to the extreme conditions, the community is not very diverse-with only a handful of species appearing, chief of which are the bacillus-like species thiomicrospira and desulfocapsa. These unique microbes are specially adapted to the underground environment and are able to utilize sulfur compounds to extract iron from the surrounding rock, which, along with carbon, is actively cycled through the cell to drive its key energy-harnessing and metabolic functions. Once excreted, the iron reacts with oxygen (in the water) and forms rust, which is the reason for the rusty-reddish color of the meltwater, and the name Blood Falls). The microbes are also adapted to an environment high in chlorides and sulfates, which are normally poisonous to many other microorganisms.

Such rare and isolated microbial communities give scientists a glimpse of the conditions on the early Earth that may have produced the first single-celled life forms. Scientist known as astrobiologists believe that by studying such extremophilic environments and organisms here on earth, they might shed light on the possibility of finding such lifeforms–or the “proto-biotic” environments that give rise to them–existing on other worlds,  starting with those of our own solar system. Candidate, extra-terrestrial environments include: underneath the icecaps of Mars,  within the ice-blanketed oceans of Jupiter’s moon Europa, or amongst the underground, and the sub-surface, cryo-volcanic flows of Saturn’s “planet-like” moon, Titan (the only moon possessing an atmosphere).

Reporting in the April 17 edition of Science Magazine, the team of explorers was lead by Jill Mikucki of Dartmouth College, New Hampshire (also of the University of Montana, and Harvard University), with support from the National Science Foundation.

Image credit: Zina Deretsky/NSF

In an area known for its winter skiing, and in a nation dependent on glaciers for drinking water, the melting of Germany’s last glacier is spurring some innovative – some say futile – attempts to save it. Giant anti-glare shields have been spread over the glacier each spring for the past 14 years, with tons of loose snow piled on top. The shields deflect the sun, keep the surface cool and shield the glacier from warm summer rain that speeds the melting. During the winter months, workers set off explosives to generate controlled avalanches on surrounding slopes to push snow onto the glacier and fences are erected to slow wind erosion. But the end is still inevitable, said the Zugspitze’s cable car operator, Frank Huber:

"We're doing all we can to preserve it as long as possible, but I'm not God and there's only so much we can do…the other things we're doing are only going to slow the process down a little bit. We aren't going to be able to save it….I grew up with the glacier and it's sad to think one day my children's children won't know what it feels or looks like.”

No one will say how much these efforts cost, other than that the investment is considerable.

Scientists report that rising global temperatures from climate change are causing the melting. The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has also stated that small alpine glaciers will disappear while larger glaciers will shrink 30-70 percent by 2050. The Zugspitze glacier was over 260 feet thick in 1910, compared with less than 150 feet thick today.

In the U.S.’s Glacier National Park, only 27 glaciers are left, down from 150 in 1850. Some estimates predict the park will be without glaciers by 2030.

CBS News
Reuters, via CNN

Owing to the extreme conditions, the community is not very diverse-with only a handful of species appearing, chief of which are the bacillus-like species thiomicrospira and desulfocapsa. These unique microbes are specially adapted to the underground environment and are able to utilize sulfur compounds to extract iron from the surrounding rock, which, along with carbon, is actively cycled through the cell to drive its key energy-harnessing and metabolic functions. Once excreted, the iron reacts with oxygen (in the water) and forms rust, which is the reason for the rusty-reddish color of the meltwater, and the name Blood Falls). The microbes are also adapted to an environment high in chlorides and sulfates, which are normally poisonous to many other microorganisms.

Such rare and isolated microbial communities give scientists a glimpse of the conditions on the early Earth that may have produced the first single-celled life forms. Scientist known as astrobiologists believe that by studying such extremophilic environments and organisms here on earth, they might shed light on the possibility of finding such lifeforms–or the “proto-biotic” environments that give rise to them–existing on other worlds,  starting with those of our own solar system. Candidate, extra-terrestrial environments include: underneath the icecaps of Mars,  within the ice-blanketed oceans of Jupiter’s moon Europa, or amongst the underground, and the sub-surface, cryo-volcanic flows of Saturn’s “planet-like” moon, Titan (the only moon possessing an atmosphere).

Reporting in the April 17 edition of Science Magazine, the team of explorers was lead by Jill Mikucki of Dartmouth College, New Hampshire (also of the University of Montana, and Harvard University), with support from the National Science Foundation.

Image credit: Zina Deretsky/NSF