Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Plate 15.15
Ice-cored pingo in permafrost, beyond houses at
Tuktoyaktut in the Mackenzie delta, North West Territories,
Canada. Its presence so close to the town is a reminder of
ground instability hazards in permafrost regions; the houses
themselves are elevated above ground level for the same
reason.
Photo: Tony Waltham.
GLACIER RESOURCES AND HAZARDS
human impact
Whether Earth reverts to a 'scheduled' icehouse phase in the near geological future or
maintains the greenhouse trend, human societies will monitor the growth, decay and
changing behaviour of glaciers and ice sheets. They convey mixed blessings of resource
or resource potential inseparable from glacier hazard and therefore neither their growth
nor their decay can be wholly beneficial to us. At its simplest, glacier resources relate to
the direct consumption of ice itself. Nature's refrigerator has long been used in glaciated
regions for food preservation and cooling - sometimes even within glacier cavities!
Ice is used more obviously and extensively in its melted state for direct human
consumption
for irrigation and for hydroelectric power generation
As Earth'slargest
