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Photo by James Whitlow Delano @jameswhitlowdelano on @everydayclimatechange:
Japan’s jyuhyo, “ice monsters” atop Mt Zao, cocooned in rime ice, are spellbinding in winter. The majority of the Maries’ fir (Abies mariesii) on the summit of Mt. Zao are dying from a beetle infestation. As the climate warms, less of the wood-boring beetles’ eggs survive winter and now can overwhelm the forest’s natural defenses and kill the trees.
Add to that, warmer winter weather is moving northward, due to climate change, meaning that the conditions that make rime ice coating possible is narrowing on Mt. Zao.
Jyuhyo were once widespread on Honshu, Japan’s main island. In fact, until roughly 1960, Shibu Pass, that divides Nagano from Gunma Prefectures 250 km (155 mi) south of Mt. Zao, had jyuhyo. They no longer form there. According to Fumitaka Yanagisawa, professor emeritus of Yamagata University’s Research Institute for Ice Monsters and Volcanoes of Zao, told me that “ice monsters” may disappear entirely from Japan by the end of this century.
Yanagisawa says jyuhyo need certain conditions to occur: temperatures between -10C to -15 C (14F to 5F), strong west or northwest winds at 36 – 54 kph (22 – 33 mph) and 2 – 3 meters (6 ½ - 10 ft) of snow accumulation.
#climatechange #globalwarming #climatecrisis #ice #rimeice #icemonsters #jyuhyo #japan #zao
