Obama visits receding glacier
President highlights effects of climate change in Alaska
SEWARD, Alaska — President Barack Obama stared down a melting glacier in Alaska on Tuesday to sound the alarm on climate change.
The 2- mile- long Exit Glacier has been retreating at a faster pace in recent years — more than 800 feet since 2008, satellite tracking shows.
“This is as good of a signpost of what we’re dealing with when it comes to climate change as just about anything,” Obama said.
Obama trekked up to the glacier with photographers in tow to call attention to the ways human activity is degrading cherished natural wonders. The visit to Kenai Fjords National Park, where the glacier is located, formed the apex of Obama’s three- day tour of Alaska.
The president observed how signposts along the hike recorded where the glacier once extended and where now only dry land remains.
“We want to make sure that our grandkids can see this,” Obama said, describing the glacier as “spectacular.”
Exit Glacier has been receding for decades at a rate of 43 feet a year, according to the National Park Service, which has been monitoring its retreat using photography and, more recently, by satellite.
Glaciers ebb and flow because of normal fluctuations in the climate, and even without human activity, Exit Glacier would be retreating. But the pace of its retreat has
sped because of heat- trapping greenhouse gases, said Deborah Kurtz of the National Park Service.
“Climate is the primary driver for the retreat of glaciers and for ice loss,” Kurtz said.
Glaciers are formed when the weight of accumulated snowfall causes ice to “flow” and extend over land. Some 700 square miles in the Kenai Mountains are blanketed by glacier ice, remnants of the Ice Age, when about a third of the earth was covered with sheets of ice.
Obama’s first glimpse of a glacier on the trip came as Marine One whisked him about 45 minutes south of Anchorage to tiny Seward. As he flew past snow- capped peaks and sprawling forests, the sheet of ice emerged, snaking its way through mountains toward a teal- tinged lake.
While in Seward, Obama proposed speeding the acquisition and building of new Coast Guard icebreakers that can operate year- round in the nation’s polar regions, part of an effort to close the gap between the U. S. and other nations, especially Russia, in a global competition to gain a foothold in the Arctic.
The president’s proposal touches on one of climate change’s most profound effects. The retreat of Arctic sea ice has created opportunities for shipping, tourism, mineral exploration and fishing, but the rush of marine traffic that has followed is causing new difficulties.
“Arctic ecosystems are among the most pristine and understudied in the world, meaning increased commercial activity comes with significant risks to the environment,” the White House said in a statement.
“The growth of human activity in the Arctic region will require highly engaged stewardship to maintain the open seas necessary for global commerce and scientific research, allow for search- and- rescue activities, and provide for regional peace and stability,” the statement said.
The aging Coast Guard fleet is not keeping pace with the challenge, the administration acknowledged, noting that the service has the equivalent of just two “fully functional” heavy icebreakers at its disposal, down from seven during World War II. Russia, by contrast, has 41 of the vessels, with plans for 11 more. China unveiled a refurbished icebreaker in 2012 and is building another.
In addition, Obama announced an initiative by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Coast Guard to map and chart the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas.