The
retreat of glaciers since 1850 affects the availability of fresh water for irrigation and domestic use, mountain recreation, animals and plants that depend on
glacier-melt, and, in the longer term, the level of the oceans. Studied by
glaciologists, the temporal coincidence of glacier retreat with the measured increase of atmospheric
greenhouse gasses is often cited as an evidentiary underpinning of
global warming. Mid-latitude mountain ranges such as the
Himalayas,
Alps,
Rocky Mountains,
Cascade Range, and the southern
Andes, as well as isolated tropical summits such as
Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, are showing some of the largest proportionate glacial losses.