As an unfortunate result of the global warming, the Glacier National Park has now only 26 glaciers on sight. Previous records show that the tourist attraction used to have 150 glaciers.
In an article published in Mashable, the decrease of the Glacier National Park's well-known glaciers resulted in a sudden decline in tourism revenue. United States Geological Survey (USGS) has reported in a news release that the park only attracted 2.9 million visitors last year.
The decrease of glaciers in the Glacier National Park also resulted in a decline as a host of ecological changes. This impact would focus on the local rivers and streams of the park.
"The park-wide loss of ice can have ecological effects on aquatic species by changing stream water volume, water temperature and runoff timing in the higher elevations of the park," Daniel Fagre, a scientist with the USGS, said in the press release. The decline of glaciers in the Glacier National Park is not an isolated phenomenon though.
In an article published in EcoWatch, it is not just the Glacier National Park, which is located in Montana, that is having this problem. Glaciers in different parts of the world like Alaska, Chile, the Alps, and Antartica are also observed to have a shrinking response to a changing climate. "While the shrinkage in Montana is more severe than some other places in the U.S., it is in line with trends that have been happening on a global scale," Fountain said.
Besides the Glacier National Park. the Greenland Ice Sheet already lost 375 gigatons of ice in every year on an average between 2011 to 2014. This is an equivalent to 4.6 miles on a block of ice on all sides.
The problems being faced by Glacier National Park and Greenland Ice Sheet could be attributed to the loss of land-based glaciers that is causing the sea levels to rise. This makes coastal cities and towns to have an increasing vulnerability to flooding.
