I'm currently reading 'The Secret Lives of Glaciers'.
More on that to come.
Today, I had the first of the live events from Hay Festival Digital, which also had a link with glaciers. It explored the declining water supply from Peruvian glaciers, and also the metal rich rocks which are exposed as the glaciers retreat, and put heavy metals into the water supply and also make them very acidic.
Which rivers will become toxic, and is there a solution to this problem?
This was Trans.MISSION II
The sad tale of a dying glacier.
Shallap Glacier in Peru is the focus for the work, in the Cordillera Blanca.
This is a naturally occuring mineral issue. Glaciers crush the rocks to a fine powder and these are washed into rivers. Climate warming and glacier retreat causes the issue.
Fish are disappearing from lakes and rivers which are bright orange and murky green from the metals that are accumulating in them.
Lots of villages and towns are dependent on glacial meltwater. Populations are in the hundreds of thousands in the area.
The project is exploring possible mitigation methods.
The main speaker was Jemma Wadham.
She talks about the importance of communicating research in different ways - the importance of stories and narratives.
Here's a film from an earlier phase of the project.
More on that to come.
Today, I had the first of the live events from Hay Festival Digital, which also had a link with glaciers. It explored the declining water supply from Peruvian glaciers, and also the metal rich rocks which are exposed as the glaciers retreat, and put heavy metals into the water supply and also make them very acidic.
Which rivers will become toxic, and is there a solution to this problem?
This was Trans.MISSION II
The sad tale of a dying glacier.
Shallap Glacier in Peru is the focus for the work, in the Cordillera Blanca.
This is a naturally occuring mineral issue. Glaciers crush the rocks to a fine powder and these are washed into rivers. Climate warming and glacier retreat causes the issue.
Fish are disappearing from lakes and rivers which are bright orange and murky green from the metals that are accumulating in them.
Lots of villages and towns are dependent on glacial meltwater. Populations are in the hundreds of thousands in the area.
The project is exploring possible mitigation methods.
The main speaker was Jemma Wadham.
She talks about the importance of communicating research in different ways - the importance of stories and narratives.
Jemma Wadham is Professor in Glaciology from the Cabot Institute at the University of Bristol (currently on secondment). She researches hydrological and biogeochemical processes that occur within glacier and ice sheet systems and in their fore fields, which have a regional or global impact. She has published more than 100 scientific articles and book contributions and is currently leading field expeditions to glaciers in Peru, Chile, Greenland and the Himalaya.
For more information on Professor Wadham’s involvement check out the entries on NERC’s Engage Blog.
You can find an English downloadable version of the story here:
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