Scientists have developed a new tool to help track the flow of glaciers and ice as the climate warms. This satellite system was unveiled at the American Geophysical Union meeting is San Francisco, California this weekend. The US $1-million system is funded by NASA, and uses data from Lansat 8, which is a satellite designed to provide data on land-use and land-cover change (for example, the shrinking of the Aral sea in central Asia as a result of water diversion from agricultural use).
Mark Fahnestock, a glaciologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks who helped develop GoLIVE (the Global Land Ice Velocity Extraction Project), has this to say on the subject.
“We now are watching all of the outlet glaciers on Earth change in real time, our eyes are open.”
This is a step forward in the right direction for solving global warming. This crisis has been on a slow burn for years, and even though some are taking action to help, many are still in denial of climate change in general. Technology like this can help spread awareness and hope, and while it's not a full solution, it's a start for sure.
http://www.nature.com/news/satellite-system-tracks-glaciers-flow-in-real-time-1.21165
This is good news. For years, scientists could only speculate and estimate about the glaciers and about global warming. Hopefully this can solve some problems for Earth.
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