Study tracks dramatic retreat of Canadian glaciers

Simon Pendleton, a doctoral researcher at the University of Colorado’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, said the Arctic is currently warming three times faster than the rest of the globe, hastening the retreat of the glaciers. (Matthew Kennedy/Earth Vision Trust / Courtesy photo)

Research in the Canadian Arctic led by the University of Colorado shows that glacial retreat has revealed landscapes that have not been free of ice for at least 40,000 years, and that the region might be experiencing its warmest century in 120,000 years. Processing the samples, and radiocarbon dating them in labs at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and the University of California Irvine, showed that the ancient plants at all 30 ice caps have likely been continuously covered by ice for at least the past 40,000 years.

Source: www.dailycamera.com