Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Global Warming Melts Glaciers in Alaska

Aired July 18, 2002 - 14:49   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Attorneys general from 11 states have written President Bush to demand swift action to curb global warming. The White House responded to the 11 Democrats saying it's working to put together a common sense approach. As CNN's Natalie Pawelski reports, study of Alaska shows the problems getting worse and faster than many people predicted.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATALIE PAWELSKI, CNN ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Scientists have long said global warming could mean rising sea levels, brought on, in part, by shrinking ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland and by melting mountain glaciers around the world. Now comes word that glaciers in Alaska are melting a lot faster than anybody thought.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Glaciers in Alaska seem to be thinning from the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s, and the rate at which they are thinning has about doubled between about the mid-1990s to 2001.

PAWELSKI: For a paper just published in the journal "Science," researchers used laser altimetry, relying on an airborne laser and a global positioning system to plot glaciers' altitudes and calculate their volume. They compared data gathered over the past few years with data gathered in the early '90s, and with topographical maps dating back as far as the 1950s.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For this more recent period, the mid-1990s to 2001, we think that Alaskan glaciers are losing mass at about twice the rate of the Greenland ice sheet. So, that puts it in perspective.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAWELSKI: Now, there is a panel of scientists that reports regularly to the United Nations on global warming, and they forecast sea level rise somewhere between 3.5 inches and 2.5 feet over the next century. The funding that Alaska's glaciers are melting so quickly could effect that forecast, and may be one more piece sign that global warming is, in fact, happening -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, Natalie, what about glaciers melting elsewhere?

PAWELSKI: That's a good point. They are melting elsewhere. Glaciers from Glacier National Park in Montana to many of Europe's glaciers are also melting quite rapidly. On the other hand, there are a few that are advancing, including the ones in Norway and Iceland.

As one researcher said to me, "climate is kind of like politics; there is always a local angle." That's part of a problem with looking at something as complicated as global warming.

PHILLIPS: All right, Natalie Pawelski, thank you so much. Pretty interesting stuff.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com