Ice Rivers: A Story of Glaciers, Wilderness, and Humanity 0691229007, 9780691229003

A passionate eyewitness account of the mysteries and looming demise of glaciers—and what their fate means for our shared

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Table of contents :
Cover
Contents
Map
Introduction: Icy Beginnings
Part One. The Smell of the Ice
1. Glimpses of an Underworld: The Swiss Alps
2. Bears, Bears Everywhere: Svalbard
Part Two. The Great Ice Sheets
3. Plumbing the Depths: Greenland
4. Life at the Extremes: Antarctica
Color Plates
Part Three. In the Shadow of Glaciers
5. Beware of the GLOF!: Patagonia
6. White Rivers Running Dry: The Indian Himalaya
7. The Last Ice: The Cordillera Blanca
Afterword: A Fork in the Path
A Glacial Glossary
Notes
Acknowledgements
Picture Credits
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Ice Rivers: A Story of Glaciers, Wilderness, and Humanity
 0691229007, 9780691229003

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Ice Rivers

Ice Rivers A Story of Glaciers, Wilderness, and Humanity

Jem ma Wad ham

Pr i n ceton U n i v e r s i ty P r e s s Pr i n ceton a n d Ox fo r d

Copyright © 2021 by Jemma Wadham Discussion questions copyright © 2022 by Princeton University Press Published in the United States, Canada, and the Philippines in 2021 by Princeton University Press 41 William Street Princeton, New Jersey 08540 press.princeton.edu Princeton University Press is committed to the protection of copyright and the intellectual property our authors entrust to us. Copyright promotes the progress and integrity of knowledge. Thank you for supporting free speech and the global exchange of ideas by purchasing an authorized edition of this book. If you wish to reproduce or distribute any part of it in any form, please obtain permission. Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to [email protected] Original edition first published by Penguin Books Ltd, London, in 2021 The moral right of the author has been asserted All Rights Reserved First paperback printing, with discussion questions, 2022 Library of Congress Control Number 2021931801 Cloth ISBN 978-0-691-22900-3 Paperback ISBN 978-0-691-24181-4 E-book ISBN 978-0-691-22901-0 Cover images: Aerial view of glacier by Panther Media GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo. Aerial photograph of water by Andrew Draper / Unsplash Set in 12/14.75 pt Dante MT Std Typeset by Jouve (UK), Milton Keynes Printed in the United States of America

Contents Introduction: Icy Beginnings

ix

part ​­one – ​t he smell of the ice 1. Glimpses of an Underworld: The Swiss Alps

3

2. Bears, Bears Everywhere: Svalbard part two – the great ice sheets

29

3. Plumbing the Depths: Greenland 4. Life at the Extremes: Antarctica

59 86

part three –  in the shadow of glaciers 5. Beware of the GLOF!: Patagonia 6. White Rivers Running Dry: The Indian Himalaya 7. The Last Ice: The Cordillera Blanca

121 146 169

Afterword: A Fork in the Path

190

A Glacial Glossary

193

Notes

199

Acknowledgements

219

Picture Credits

221

Discussion Questions

223

Leverett Glacier, Greenland • 600 km2 • Land-terminating outlet glacier/polythermal

Shallap and Pastoruri Glaciers, Cordillera Blanca, Peru • 7 km2/