Friday’s first international glacial day is celebrated

All The mass of the world’s glacier regions shrunk again in 2024, says WMO, the World Meteorological Organization. It was the third year in a row when this happens.

General General of WMO Celeste Saul According to the protection of glaciers, not only is an environmental, economic and social necessity, but also a matter of survival.

According to WMO, glaciers have retreated at record speeds of five of the last six years.

In addition to Greenland and Antarctic continental glaciers, there are over 275,000 glaciers around the world, covering an area of ​​about 700,000 square kilometers. However, glaciers shrink rapidly due to climate change.

World A total of about 450 billion tonnes of 19 glacier areas lost, WMO says based on the new data from the Swiss glaciers.

2024 was the fourth worst year in history for glaciers. The worst year was 2023.

Last year, glaciers lost their mass relatively moderately, for example, in the Arctic area of ​​Canada and at the edges of Greenland. Instead, glaciers in Scandinavia, Norwegian Svalbard Archipelago and North Asia experienced the worst year in statistical history.

According to WMO, many glaciers in West Canada and the United States, Scandinavia, Central Europe, Caucasus and New Zealand will not survive the current century at the current melting rate.

The organization says that continental ice and glaciers together store about 70 percent of the world’s fresh water reserve, and the tall mountain areas are like water towers. The disappearance of them would threaten the water supply of millions of people.

Glacial Rescue requires that global warming be controlled by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“We can eventually negotiate many things, but we cannot negotiate natural laws like ice melting point,” said WMO’s water and cryosphere program Stefan Uhlenbrook.

UHlenbrook refused to comment on the President of the US in January Donald Trumpwhich, among other things, has withdrawn the United States from the 2015 Paris Climate Convention and has taken other battles against climate change.

However, Uhlenbrook said that ignoring climate change can be convenient in the short term, but that does not help us get closer to the solution.

On Friday On March 21, for the first time, international glaciers are celebrated. In honor of this, WGMS first named the glacier of the year.

The title was received by South Cascade Glacier, a states of Washington in the United States, and has been constantly monitored since 1952.