No Snow, Wow!

Falk's Conservation Opinion Blog

English - January 27, 2023 22:59 - 16 minutes - 14.8 MB
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Previous Episode: A comment on "A decade of wrangling, but dolphins and seabirds off South Island's NZ east coast remain unprotected" (by A. Vance 2022)

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When snow gets warmed up it melts; virtually every child will know that.

However, on a policy and public level, those details are hardly acknowledged, certainly not the vast impacts that relate to lacking 'snow pack', e.g. seasonality, regional climate, and feeding water tables, rivers, estuaries and thus directly contributing to farming, global food security and warfare even - to name just a few.

Here I share my first-hand experiences across years from observing snow and ice in winter for areas like Hindu Kush-Himalaya, Antarctica and Alaska, the mountains and ice sheet landscapes. Those 'coldspots' are traditionally known for major ice and snow - cooling areas - of the world as indicators of the global temperature.

In this podcast I outline how this crucial subject for humanity -driven by man-made CO2 and Greenhouse Gas (GHGs) - received too little attention but hopefully can get addressed better now for future generations.

(Photo credit: Author, Murphy Dome (interior Alaska) area showing a mountain top with a very thin snow layer in January)

Additional references

Ingels J., R. Aronson, C. Smith, A. Baco, H. Bik, J. Blake, A. Brandt,M .Cape, D. DeMaster, E. Dolan, E. Domack, S. FireH, H Geisz, M. Gigliotti, H. Griffiths, K. Halanych,C. Havermans, F. Huettmann, S.Ishman, S. Kranz,A. Leventer, A. Mahon,J. McClintock,M. McCormick, B.Mitchell, A. Murray, L. Peck, A. Rogers, B. Shoplock, K. Smith, B. Steffel, M. Stukel, A. Sweetman, M. Taylor,A. Thurber, M. Truffer, A. Van de Putte, A. Vanreusel, M. Zamora-Duran (2020). Antarctic Ecosystem Responses following Ice Shelf Collapse and Iceberg Calving: Science Review and Future Research. WIREs Clim Change. 2020;e682. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.682 (see also previous podcast in this series by FH)

Regmi G.R. and F. Huettmann (2020) Hindu Kush-Himalaya Watersheds Downhill: Landscape Ecology and Conservation Perspectives. Springer Gland, Switzerland . 886 pages

The Guardian (2023a) Alpine ski resorts struggle amid snow shortage – in pictures. 6th January 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/travel/gallery/2023/jan/06/alpine-ski-resorts-snow-shortage-in-pictures (accessed 25th January 2023)

The Guardian (2023b) In stark contrast: the warming of Europe's ski resorts - photo essay. January 26th 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/26/warming-europe-ski-resorts-photo-essay-satellite-images-winter-lack-of-snow (accessed 26th January 2023)

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