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Glaciated landscapes face a range of threats from both natural processes and human activities. Climate change is the most significant and far-reaching threat, but tourism pressure, resource extraction and infrastructure development also pose serious challenges. This lesson addresses Edexcel A-Level Geography Enquiry Question 2 (EQ2) by examining how these threats interact and impact glaciated environments.
Global warming is causing widespread glacier retreat:
| Region | Rate of Change | Key Data |
|---|---|---|
| European Alps | Rapid retreat | Lost ~60% of ice volume since 1850; Switzerland's glaciers lost 10% of remaining volume in 2022 and 2023 alone |
| Himalaya | Accelerating retreat | Glaciers melting ~65% faster since 2010 compared to 2000–2009 (ICIMOD, 2023) |
| Greenland Ice Sheet | Mass loss accelerating | Losing ~280 Gt/year (2006–2018); contributed ~13.7 mm to sea level rise since 1972 |
| Tropical glaciers | Near elimination | Kilimanjaro has lost ~85% of its ice cover since 1912; Peruvian glaciers retreated ~30% since 1980 |
| Arctic glaciers | Widespread retreat | Svalbard glaciers thinning; Alaska glaciers losing ~75 Gt/year |
| Antarctic Peninsula | Ice shelf collapse | Larsen B Ice Shelf collapsed in 2002 (~3,250 km²); Thwaites Glacier at risk |
| Consequence | Impact | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Sea level rise | Glacier melt contributes to global sea level rise | ~21 mm since 1961 from glaciers alone (excluding Greenland/Antarctic ice sheets) |
| Water insecurity | Reduced glacier storage → less reliable dry-season water supply | Affects ~1.9 billion people in Himalayan, Andean and Central Asian regions |
| Glacial lake formation | Retreating glaciers leave moraine-dammed lakes | Growing risk of GLOFs (see below) |
| New landscapes | Glacier forelands exposed to weathering, erosion and colonisation | Opportunities for ecological succession research |
| Loss of scientific record | Glaciers contain climate archives that are being lost | Irreversible loss of palaeoclimate data |
| Cultural loss | Glaciers are central to Alpine, Arctic and Andean cultures | Loss of identity and heritage |
| Tourism change | "Last chance tourism" increases pressure; ski industry threatened | Economic restructuring required |
Exam Tip: When discussing the impacts of glacier retreat, always consider scale (local, regional, global) and timescale (short-term, long-term). The impacts on sea level and water supply are global and long-term; the impacts on tourism and culture are regional and more immediate. This multi-scale analysis is essential for top marks.
As discussed in Lesson 7, permafrost thaw is a critical consequence of climate change with wide-ranging impacts:
| Location | Impact | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Russia (Siberia) | Building collapse | ~40% of buildings in some Siberian cities (e.g., Norilsk, Yakutsk) are experiencing structural damage from permafrost thaw |
| Alaska | Road and pipeline damage | The Dalton Highway and Trans-Alaska Pipeline require continuous monitoring and adaptation |
| Canada | Airport and building damage | Inuvik and other northern communities experiencing foundation instability |
| Svalbard | Seed vault threat | The Svalbard Global Seed Vault experienced unexpected meltwater ingress in 2017 due to permafrost warming |
The permafrost carbon feedback loop is one of the most concerning aspects of Arctic warming:
Permafrost thaw destabilises slopes, increasing the risk of:
GLOFs occur when a moraine-dammed glacial lake bursts, releasing enormous volumes of water in a catastrophic flood. The frequency of GLOFs is increasing as glacier retreat creates more and larger moraine-dammed lakes.
| Event | Location | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Dig Tsho GLOF (1985) | Langmoche, Nepal | Destroyed the Namche Small Hydro Plant and 14 bridges; 5 deaths |
| Lake Palcacocha GLOF (1941) | Huaraz, Peru | Killed approximately 1,800–6,000 people; destroyed one-third of the city |
| Chamoli disaster (2021) | Uttarakhand, India | Rock and ice avalanche triggered a debris flow/GLOF; killed ~200 people; destroyed two HEP plants |
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