Back To Wild

This loss of glaciers could lead to loss and change in supply of drinking and irrigation water, leading to more falling rocks, and destroy the European ski industry.
On an average around 3 percent of Alpine glacial ice is lost every year, according to Roland Psenner, a fresh water scientist at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. That corresponds to around 3.3 feet (1 meter) of ice thickness.

Ten percent of the ice was gone in the record-breaking heat of 2003. Around seven percent was gone in 2006 according to Psenner.
“If the melting goes on at this pace, glaciers will be gone by 2030 to 2050—except some high-altitude sites in the French, Swiss, and Italian Alps,” he wrote in an email to National Geographic News.

Yet another Warning!

Lonnie Thompson is a glaciologist at the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University. He says that the loss of glacier ice in the Alps is consistent with global trends. It is the same story all over the world.

“At all these sites it’s the same story. Not only are the glaciers retreating, they are accelerating in the rate at which they are retreating,” Thompson said. “That’s very consistent with what’s going on with the glaciers in the Alps.”

That Alpine glaciers are melting fast is old news to European ski resorts, which are watching the multimillion-dollar winter tourism trade trickle away.
Cause for Melting

Global warming along with the greenhouse gases seems to be the main cause of the melting glaciers. Studies also suggest that Alpine glaciers almost disappeared at least once in the past 10,000 years.
This melting trend is consistent with the projections that were made based on warming occurring due to increase in greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.

It is important to note that the past glacial melting occurred when atmospheric levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) were 280 parts per million. Today’s carbon dioxide levels are approaching 385 parts per million.

A surprising discovery was made when a survey of genetic diversity in the United Kingdom was performed based on the male Y chromosome.This sex-determining chromosome is inherited from father to son, providing a record of male ancestry.

This uncommon DNA, is a chromosome called hgA1, that was previously been detected only in a region of West Africa that includes Mali, Senegal, and Guinea-Bissau, the team says.

“It’s a really special chromosome, one that’s only been reported before in a handful of men in Africa,” said Mark Jobling, a genetics professor from the University of Leicester who led the research team.

This chromosome is based at the root of the family tree of Y chromosomes in Africa, according to Jobling. “It’s an ancient type that’s African specific.” The team found hgA1 in one white British male who took part in the survey, even though the man has no known African family connection. According to recent research,, this unusual DNA has been present in Britain for over 250 years.

Distinctive Surname

After making this surprising find, Jobling’s team tested other British men who had the same east Yorkshire surname as the original man found with the African chromosome. Genealogical research and further genetic testing were used to date the arrival of the African DNA in northern England.

Records like birth and marriage certificates traced the men’s surname to two individuals who were born in Yorkshire in the 1780s. This closely matched the date reached from analyzing mutations in the studied Y chromosome.Such mutations build up through generations at a predictable rate, allowing the study team to work back to the time when the men likely shared a common ancestor.

“Both those lines of evidence say that this chromosome has been around since at least the mid-18th century,” Jobling said. The finding suggests that black people have contributed to the “indigenous” British gene pool despite previous evidence to the contrary.

Africans were first recorded in northern England some 1,800 years ago, part of a Roman garrison brought in to defend Hadrian’s Wall against raids by tribes in what is now Scotland, the study team said.

But slaves from West Africa, Jobling said, were the most likely source of the African DNA revealed in the study. The new study, Thomas added, “makes the point that we do all have very mixed ancestry.”