Mountain Glaciers are at Risk of Extinction

Mountain glaciers are a product of climate and are important environmental components of local, regional and global water cycles. Glaciers are sources of beauty in the mountain landscapes and, in many cases, have been among the primary agents responsible for forming these landscapes. Glacier mass balance data have received increasing attention in recent years because of their usefulness in detecting climate change and explaining rising sea level (Meier 1984; Church et al. 2001). Understanding changes in glacier volume is important for regional water supply and power generation. In addition, observations made by the scientific community, tourists and climbers have shown that alpine glaciers are disappearing from mountain ranges around the globe. These changes have profound implications for sources of fresh-water on land, cause sea-level rise and make mountains less attractive, and more difficult and less appealing to climb (Bowen 2001; Meier and Wahr 2002; Meier et al. 2003).