Glacier melt is accelerating in Alaska, study says. Dire news for rising seas?
USA TodayJul 18
The Facts
A new study published last week in Nature Communications has claimed that the snow-covered area of the Juneau Icefield, which extends from Canada's British Columbia into southeast Alaska, is melting at an "incredibly worrying" rate.
Researchers found that one of the largest areas of interconnected glaciers in North America has annually lost 1.4 cubic miles (5.8 cubic km) of ice between 2010 and 2020.
The Spin
Narrative A
The melting of the Juneau Icefield is likely to become irreversible. There's less snow summer after summer due to global warming, ice is exposed to sunshine and higher temperatures, and glaciers are melting increasingly faster. If no solution is found soon, this self-perpetuating feedback loop of loss of snow and ice is set to continue even if the world stops warming.
Narrative B
Despite all the climate alarmism over the alleged melting of the Juneau Icefield, the world has actually seen new glaciers form and grow. Geological evidence tells us that Earth will eventually enter a long — and deadly — ice age instead of warming. And the less winter snow melts during summer, the closer that tipping point actually is.
