A large, slow-moving mass of ice that forms where snow falls at a greater rate, glaciers are the largest reservoir of fresh water on Earth. Covering vast areas of the polar region and mountain ranges all over the world, we’ve decided to hop on a quest to find the largest glacier on each continent. So here they are:

North America – Hubbard Glacier

Hubbard is the largest tidewater glacier on the North American continent. Hubbard has also been thickening and advancing toward the Gulf of Alaska ever since it was first mapped by the International Boundary Commission in 1895 (Davidson, 1903). And, this is happening despite climate change and the fact that many glaciers are thinning and retreating.

Images by BobTheCorkDwarf (1+2)

South America – Perito Moreno Glacier

90% of the world’s glaciers in Antarctica and Patagonia at the southern tip of South America are melting quickly. Argentina’s mighty Perito Moreno glacier is thriving in defiance of the global climate change. University of Alaska Fairbanks experts say the area’s heavy precipitation seems to have increased. This combined with strong, cold Patagonian winds has reinforced the glacier.

Images bye romeral and eoino

Europe – Vatnajokull Glacier

The Vatnajokull covers about 8% of Iceland with and average thickness of 400meter. Beneath the glacier are active volcanoes. Grimsvoth Volcano is Iceland’s most active – latest eruptions in 1996, 1998, 2004.

Images by nico t and adrivdm

Africa – Glaciers of Kilimanjaro

These glaciers may not be the biggest on the continent but they are definitely on the highest mountain of the continent. They were also the center of much global warming alarmist hype until it was proven that retreat and advance of glaciers is not caused by climate change as much as it is caused by overall changes in precipitation.

Images by pave_m and bencurthoys

Asia – Siachen Glacier

Siachen glacier is the highest battleground on earth. It is a place where India and Pakistan always meet in a frozen standoff. It is the world’s largest non polar glacier, Siachen glacier is sometimes called third pole. This glacier is well known for its scarce population and treacherous climatic conditions.  Siachin boasts more than 2 trillion cubic feet of ice, and within 25 kms has 45 peaks which rise up to a height of 18000 feet.

Image by Imran

Australia – Heard Island Glacier

Australia’s little know glaciers sit in sub-Antarctic Heard Island in the Indian Ocean. The area was discovered by U.S. Captain William Heard in 1853. Scientists call the area an ideal laboratory for studying climate change – at the end of the Polar Zone and isolated from humans.

Image by wikipedia

Antarctica – Lambert Glacier

Lambert along with Mellor and Fisher glaciers, which form the upper extension of the Lambert, the ice mass have been measured at 320 mi. long and over 40 mi. wide. “The Lambert drains into the massive Amery Ice Shelf at longitude 70 deg. E, almost due south of Bombay and approximately 1,400 mi. from the South Pole.”

Image by Wikipedia

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The very fact that 46,000 cruise ship passengers have been able to make their way to Antarctica – places which would have been inaccessible 20 years ago, are good examples of the effects of global warming at the South Pole.

While the world still argues about how real or unreal the threat of global warming is, the effects though are giving definitive proofs. With shrinking icebergs, cracked ice caps and collapsing sheets of ice, it’s a fact that Antarctica is becoming a warmer place. And while that might be a great thing for tourists come every summer, it could mean disaster for the planet in the long run.

Kayaker Jon Bowermaster led his team of 12 men across 500 miles around the northern Antarctic Peninsula for five weeks and found the dangerous effects of global warming loom large. The region has gotten 5 degrees hotter than it was in 1945 with average temperatures always on the rise each year.

However, the greatest threat in the region is that during summers it rains more frequently now. The rain melts the snow at a rapid pace and leaves creatures like the Penguins and Seals wet and shivering in the Antarctic cold. They believe that the excessive and unseasonal rain in Antarctica is causing both its topography and its creatures more harm than the rising temperatures.

If the trend continues, then very soon we could find the rate of melting ice caps increase to a point where every coastal city on the planet is under serious and immediate threat. Yet, much of the world still ironically debates global warming in its well furnished boardrooms. Doesn’t sound fun anymore, is it?

Image copyright to 1, 2, 3, 4

Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina is one of the most awe-inspiring landscapes on the planet, with vast stretches of unending snow-covered peaks and valleys hidden deep in the heart of the mighty and often unforgiving Andes.

Both stirring our imagination and challenging our survival skills, this amazing panorama can be as deadly to a lost tourist as it is a delight to the ones that have learnt to capture its effervescent glory in their camera lenses. It is in this untouched paradise that the spectacle called “Los Glaciares” finds its existence and this unmatched show of glacier extravaganza is as delightful and magnificent as the Andes that shelter it.

Parque Nacional Los Glaciares is an incredible journey into the heart of the biggest ice cap on the planet that falls outside the Antarctic and Greenland region. Thanks to its natural brilliance, part of the 4459 square kilometers have been marked out in 1981 as one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. Every single inch of the unending white magic is equally enthralling for tourists and ecologists alike, because the giant ice cap feeds about 47 glaciers which start from a height of just 1500 feet above sea level.

The Los Glaciares National Park mainly consists of two parts which subsequently lead to the two rivers of Lake Argentino in the South and Lake Viedma in the North. The northern part consists of the popular Viedma glacier and is pretty overwhelming spot that is a must for all adventure seekers and trekking enthusiasts while the southern part of the ice cap consists of smaller glaciers like the Perito Moreno Glacier, Upsala Glacier, and Spegazzini Glacier.

A ‘once in a lifetime’ boat ride between these glaciers to reach the inaccessible spots will be the highlight of your trip as each and every moment will be etched in your memory for eternity due to the sheer unadulterated beauty of this timeless land.

The whole area is a major attraction for international tourists and words cannot describe enough the simple, elegant and extraordinary beauty of this amazing land that is protected from human meddling. If you want to experience the best “White Magic” on the planet without making a tedious trip to the Poles, then a trip to Los Glaciares will quench your thirst.

Check out more pictures after the break. (more…)

We’ve all been fooled. The glaciers really aren’t melting. They’ve been stolen. Some sneaky Japanese people wanting to raise awareness about global warming traveled north or east, I am not sure, and stole huge hunks of a glacier and brought them to Hokkaido. It reminds me of the mentality of bringing in animals to zoos so we can study them in their fake, artificial habitat, or something like that.

What do you think about causing harm in order to create an overall good result? What about this end justifies the means mentality?

And, I wonder, the violin player, does that make the glaciers feel less homesick? Make them feel warm and fuzzy inside? Ah, now that would cause them to melt.

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The results of the latest World Glacier Monitoring Service report, showed that 30 glaciers around the world lost a record amount of ice in 2006. These are the obvious repercussions of global warming and Professor Wilfried Haeberli, director of the monitoring service, told The Observer that “glaciers melt at fastest rate in past 5,000 years“.

Glacier melting into the sea near the southern tip of Greenland by Silversprite

Biggest concerns about melting glaciers are risen sea levels, floods, avalanches and drought that not only put people’s lives in jeopardy but are threatening eco-systems, too.

“We’re talking about something that happens in your and my lifespan. We’re not talking about something hypothetical, we’re talking about something dramatic in its consequences” said Achim Steiner, head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

The problems are real and the melting glaciers are highly relevant to what we are about to face. Tony Blair an ambassador for action on climate change in the ‘Breaking the Climate Deadlock’ initiative, began a series of high-level environmental meetings in Japan, China and India.

“We have reached the critical moment of decision on climate change. Failure to act now would be deeply and unforgivably irresponsible. The scale of what is needed is so great that the purpose of any global action is not to ameliorate or to make better our carbon dependence, it is to transform the nature of economies and societies in terms of carbon consumption and emissions.

If the average person in the US is, say, to emit per capita, one-tenth of what they do today and those in the UK or Japan one-fifth, we’re not talking of adjustment, we’re talking about a revolution”, Tony Blair said yesterday in Chiba, Japan.

Will we do anything about it? Sure hope so.