I was reading about how the glaciers in West Papua that have now all but disappeared as a result of global warming. I came across an informative piece in the Huffington Post, dated Nov. 21, 2017, written by Anthony Sharwood. Some of his report is reproduced below. It outlines further irrefutable evidence of global warming. In short, the melting of the glaciers isn’t due to cooling temperatures, rather it’s global warming.
“Indonesia has a glacier. In fact there are several. That might sound as implausible as an Antarctic beach with palm trees, but it's true.
“The tiny little glaciers are up on Puncak Jaya, aka Carstensz Pyramid, Indonesia's highest mountain at 4884m above sea level. But these mini icefields are disappearing, and fast.
“Here's why this matters.
It matters because they are geographical treasures in their own right;
It matters because glaciers in tropical areas like Indonesia provide valuable runoff for farmers and nearby communities. The creeks that flow out of glaciers are perennial, which means they always flow. Until the glacier goes;
And it matters because these are visible symbols of the effects of climate change.
“Australian adventurer and conservationist Tim Jarvis has visited the glaciers of Puncak Jaya. He heads a project called 25zero which is charting the disappearing icefields in six equatorial nations: Ecuador, Colombia, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Indonesia.
“Astonishingly, all of these countries have mountains mountains high enough for glaciers, but most of those glaciers will be gone within 25 years.
"Using melting glaciers at the equator is a tangible way of talking about climate change," Jarvis told HuffPost Australia.
“But this project ultimately is not about about the glaciers. It's about what their melting tells us about what we're doing to the planet. The glaciers are a nice tangible visible metric showing us what we're doing to the climate."
“Jarvis believes there is "just too much snow and ice" in the polar regions for most people to grasp the scale of climate change, even though, as he said, "ice is melting very fast" in those areas. But at the equator, you can see the change.
“"There are very good historical records so we can do before and after contrasts. It's an ideal place to use to get the message across."
“WAIT: HOW CAN THERE BE ICE IN THE TROPICS?
You lose about 7 degrees for every 1000 metres of altitude. That's because thinner air holds less heat;
So if a peak is 4,000 metres above sea level, its average temperature will be roughly 28 degrees lower than a nearby place at sea level;
Let's use the Indonesian example. Most days the maximum is about 32 degrees in Jakarta, which is at sea level. So up on the summit of Puncak Jaya at 4884m, you'd expect the temperature to be about 34 degrees lower, or just below zero;
