LIMA (Reuters) - Climate change has shrunk Andean glaciers
between 30 and 50 percent since the 1970s and could melt many of
them away altogether in coming years, according to a study
published on Tuesday in the journal The Cryosphere. Andean
glaciers, a vital source of fresh water for tens of millions of
South Americans, are retreating at their fastest rates in more
than 300 years, according to the most comprehensive review of
Andean ice loss so far. The study included data on about half of
all Andean glaciers in South America, and blamed the ice loss on
an average temperature spike of 0.7 degree Celsius (1.26 degrees
Fahrenheit) over the past 70 years. "Glacier retreat in the
tropical Andes over the last three decades is unprecedented,"
said Antoine Rabatel, the lead author of the study and a
scientist with the Laboratory for Glaciology and Environmental
Geophysics in Grenoble, France. The researchers also warned that
future warming could totally wipe out the smaller glaciers found
at lower altitudes that st