Glaciers and ice caps form around the world where snow deposited during the cold/humid season does not entirely melt during warm/dry times. This seasonal snow gradually becomes denser and transforms into perennial firn (rounded, well-bonded snow that is older than one year) and finally, after the air passages connecting the grains are closed off, into ice. The ice from such accumulation areas then flows under the influence of its own weight and t...

Glaciers and ice caps reached their Holocene (the past 10 000 years) maximum extent in most mountain ranges throughout the world towards the end of the Little Ice Age, between the 17th and mid-19th century. Over the past hundred years a trend of dramatic shrinking is apparent over the entire globe, especially at lower elevations and latitudes. Within this general trend, strong glacier retreat is observed in the 1930s and 1940s, followed by static...

In Canada, recent evidence indicates a shortening of the freshwater-ice season over much of the country with the reduction being mainly attributable to earlier break ups. These trends match those in surface air temperature during the last 50 years. For example, similar spatial and temporal patterns have been found between trends (1966 to 1995) in autumn and spring 0°C isotherms (lines on a map showing location of 0°C air temperatures) and lake fr...

Shows comparative trend between air temperature in Colombia and levels of malaria and dengue fever. When temperatures increase, especially in combination with more precipitation, vector borne diseases like malaria and dengue fever increase in frequency and distribution. In particular, areas where the minimum night temperatures increase provide the best conditions for the growth and spread of Anopheline spp. and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. (McCarth...