Climate Ready: Evidence in NYC shows rapid glacier melt is leading to real-world effects
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- It's not just in the movies; the ice on our planet is melting faster than we ever thought possible.
This melting is not just taking place at the North and South Poles.
"Everything from the relatively small glaciers that we're use to looking iconically at, to the Alps, the Rockies, Alaska," Robin Bell, geophysicist and glaciologist, said.
Glacier melting is having real-world effects, demonstrating how much damage climate change can do.
"There's a tide gauge down at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal," said Bell. "And sea levels have just been going up."
New York City's history with glaciers goes much further back.
"About 20,000 years ago, this whole area was under ice," Steven Jaret, research associate at the American Museum of Natural History, said. "It would have been here about 1,000 to 2,000 feet thick."
In parts of New York State, more than a mile and a half of ice covered what is now ground level, which is more than four times the height of one World Trade Center.
At that time, glacial ice reached as far south as Staten Island, meaning the clearest evidence of glacial melting can be found in New York City's backyard.
"You'll see a lot of smoothing and some rounding of the rocks," said Jaret. "You also see what we call glacial striations and these look like scratches. They're little, little lines across the rock that formed as the ice was moving over the rock."
Central Park is littered with evidence of glacial movement.
Upright rocks in Central Park, characterized by distinct, pink grains, are referred to as "glacial erratic" because they were brought there by glacial melting.
When the glaciers melted, the upright rocks were left in their place.
"These pink big grains are not a common feature," said Jaret. "Most of the granite around doesn't look this unique. But there's a spot we found this at the Bronx Zoo. So, you can actually trace this all the way back to the Bronx Zoo."
The proof of glacial melting doesn't end there.
A boulder was found in the southern portion of Central Park, about seven and a half miles from the Bronx Zoo.
On the West Side Highway, all you have to do is look over the water to find even more evidence of glaciers.
"All the roundness of the hills that we see is glacial," said Bell. "The river certainly, there was ice flowing down there. So, it was certainly carved."
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