Climate change as a matter of fact: The melting of Tuyuksu glacier

Photo credit:  N. E. Kassatkin (World Glacier Monitoring Service)

Glaciers Are Retreating. Millions Rely on Their Water.  (The New York Times, 1/15/2019)

Glaciers represent the snows of centuries, compressed over time into slowly flowing rivers of ice, up to about a thousand feet thick here in the Tien Shan range and even thicker in other parts of the world. They are never static, accumulating snow in winter and losing ice to melting in summer. But in a warming climate melting outstrips accumulation, resulting in a net loss of ice. 

The Tuyuksu, which is about a mile and a half long, is getting shorter as well as thinner. When the research station was built in 1957 it was just a few hundred yards from the Tuyuksu’s leading edge, or tongue. Now, reaching the ice requires scrambling on foot for the better part of an hour over piles of boulders and till left as the glacier retreated.

Previous climate change as a matter of fact posts:
Africa
Cape Town, South Africa.  (1/31/2018)
Kenya.  (7/23/2017)

Asia
Record heat in Japan raises concerns over 2020 Olympics.  (7/23/2018)
Wet bulb temperatures in India.  (7/21/2018)
Lebanon's cedar trees.  (7/19/2018)
Rising seas + draining underground aquifers = Jakarta disaster.  (12/22/2017)

Australia and the Pacific
Dying coral of the Great Barrier Reef.  (4/22/2018)
Easter Island.  (3/18/2018)
Green sea turtles of the Great Barrier Reef.  (1/11/2018)
Kiribati.  (7/6/2016)

Europe
Rising seas threaten Scottish heritage.  (9/29/2018)
Norway, Finland, and Sweden.  (7/19/2018)
Portugal.  (6/19/2017)
The Netherlands.  (6/19/2017)

North America
Insect apocalypse:  Monarch butterfly.  (12/10/2018)
Hot nights in the U.S.  (9/6/2018)
Hampton Roads, Virginia.  (8/19/2018)
Front-page news at Des Moines Register.  (8/12/2018)
Miami, again.  (6/14/2018)
May 2018 record heat in U.S. (6/9/2018)
Miami.  (5/4/2018)
Melting outdoor ice rinks in Canada.  (3/21/2018)
Gulf of Maine.  (3/8/2018)
Jean Lafitte, Louisiana.  (2/26/2018)
Lodi, Wisconsin.  (2/3/2018)
Maine shrimp season.  (12/27/2017)
California fires.  (12/8/2017)
Wisconsin.  (11/16/2017)
Hampton Roads, Virginia.  (11/4/2017)
Georgia peach orchards.  (9/18/2017)
Northeast U.S. pine forests.  (8/29/2017)
Tangier Island, Virginia.  (8/25/2017)
South of the Arctic Circle in Alaska. (8/25/2017)
New Orleans.  (8/12/2017)
Mexico City.  (2/19/2017)
Kansas.  (1/29/2017)
Moose of Maine.  (1/21/2017)
Florida Keys.  (1/14/2017)
California wine country.  (1/11/2017)
Kaktovik, Alaska.  (12/20/2016)
Alaska's Glacier Bay National Park.  (7/7/2016)

Polar regions
Heating the Arctic.  (12/12/2018)
Disappearing old ice in Arctic.  (6/4/2018)
North Pole.  (2/28/2018)
Beavers migrate to Arctic.  (12/24 /2017)
Shrinking sea ice in the Arctic Ocean.  (12/14/2017)
Emaciated polar bear.  (12/9/2017)

South America
Galapagos Islands.  (12/19/2018)
Peru.  (11/26/2017)
Brazil.  (6/8/2017)
Bolivia.  (7/11/2016)
Peru,  (5/21/2016)

U.S. Military
Military prepares for reality of climate change, rising seas.  (8/11/2018)
U.S. military bases around the world.  (1/8/2018)
U.S. Department of Defense.  (12/16/2017)
U.S. military bases.  (9/22/2017)

Worldwide
Not just a wake-up call anymore.  (8/10/2018)