![]() The common name for the species is “brown bear,” but only coastal bears in Alaska and Canada are referred to as such, while inland bears and those found in the lower 48 states are called grizzly bears. It is said that as the albedo decreases, we will see larger decline in the thickness of glaciers and some will even disappear without a trace.īrown bears - Ursus Arctos - are the most widely distributed bear species in the world.īrown and grizzly bears are technically classified as the same species even though there are noticeable differences between them. Columbia Glacier in Prince William Sound is a prime example, having receded half of its total thickness since the 1980s. Since a large part of Alaska is made of snow and ice, the ecosystems there can easily be affected by climate change. Just a small temperature increase can set this cycle into motion. More of the darker surface is exposed, leading to the absorption of extra heat, escalating snow and ice melt, and the cycle begins once again. Increase in heat is absorbed by the darker surface, so more snow and ice melt. ![]() With warmer temperatures, some of the snow and ice melts, exposing the darker land or water underneath that are poor reflectors. A change in albedo is crucial to the many glacier examples used to prove the existence of climate change because it drastically affects the water temperature, sea level, glacial melt and even the ocean circulation patterns.īetween 70 and 80 percent of the sun’s rays that hit snow or ice surface are mirrored back out into the atmosphere, meaning it has a high albedo. Using a spectroradiometer, albedo is calculated by dividing reflected light by incident light. The amount of light or radiation reflected by a surface of the Earth.
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