The_Barnacle wrote on May 2^nd, 2018 at 9:47pm:



Sorry to disappoint.

Things that affect glaciers - Precipitation - it varies naturally it is not monotonic.

Air pressure - again

Temperature - yep.

So these three things vary naturally. And they will vary in concert, in isolation. So it is complex.

Now all you have to do is determine which parameter is dominant, if one is. Which has no bearing if that is the case.

There may even be others.

Simply saying it is the heat is simplistic.

Three north-looking photographs, all taken from about the same offshore location, about 0.5 kilometers (0.3 miles) north of Toboggan Glacier, document significant changes that have occurred during the 103 years between August 20, 1905 and August 22, 2008. An intermediate age photograph shows the glacier on September 4, 2000. The 1905 photograph shows that Toboggan Glacier was thinning and retreating and was surrounded by a large bedrock barren zone. This suggests that retreat and thinning began in the mid- to late-19th century. Minimal vegetation existed on the fiord-facing hill slopes. In 1905, the terminus appears to have thinned to about 50% of its former thickness. Note the gently dipping sediment plain adjacent to the terminus. Note the two arcuate ridges, capped by several hummocky mounds that are located on the surface of the outwash sediments. The ridges are recessional moraines, dating from the late 19th century. (USGS Photo by Sidney Paige - 731). The 2000 photograph documents that after 95 years, the glacier is still thinning and retreating. Its terminus, a thin tongue of ice, can be seen surrounded by a mass of debris. The glacier has thinned as much as 150 meters (492 feet) and retreated more than 0.5 kilometers (0.3 miles). A large accumulation of snow sits on the valley floor adjacent to where the northern-most hanging glacier tributary previously joined Toboggan Glacier. The tributary no longer makes contact, having retreated more than 0.6 kilometers (0.37 miles) up the valley wall. The former zone of barren bedrock is now covered by vegetation. (USGS photograph by Bruce. F. Molnia). The August 22, 2008 photograph documents the continuing thinning and retreat of Toboggan Glacier. The thin tongue of terminus ice that was visible 8 years earlier is gone. Both hanging glacier tributaries continue to retreat.

http://www.alaska.org/detail/toboggan-glacier

Scientific fact...  glaciers advance and retreat (always have always will)

Grendel wrote on May 6^th, 2018 at 5:25pm:


A completely meaningless statement
So why have the great majority of the worlds glaciers been retreating over the past 150 years?

lee wrote on May 6^th, 2018 at 8:23pm:


I didn't think that you were stupid enough to actually think this was a valid argument. I'll spell it out simply so you can understand.

As this thread has shown, glaciers have been retreating globally for the past century or so. So the driving force must be global.

Has there been a global change in air pressure over the past century? No
Has there been a global fall in precipitation over the past century? No
has there been a global rise in temperature over the past century? Yes

Your diversionary attempt to blame  air pressure or precipitation for the worlds retreating glaciers is pathetic.

No, it is global. A very few glaciers are positioned so as to benefit from the increased precipitation AGW brings.

A few exceptions do not make glacier retreat non–global especially when those exceptions are due to an aspect of AGW—the increased precipitation.