massive antarctic ice shelf set to break

[unclejpl4x4]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090403/sc_afp/antarcticawarmingice_20090403150607

PARIS (AFP) – A Jamaica-sized ice shelf is close to wrenching itself away from Antarctica, following dramatic weakening of an ice "bridge" linking it to the continent, the European Space Agency (ESA) reported Friday.

The icy umbilical cord tying the Wilkins Ice Shelf to two islands on the Antarctic peninsula "looks set to collapse," ESA said.

The evidence comes from radar pictures taken on Thursday by its Envisat Earth-monitoring satellite, the Paris-based agency said in a press release.

Scientists have been keeping a worried eye on this ice shelf for years.

For many, it is a barometer of global warming, which has hit the Antarctic peninsula harder than almost any region on Earth.

The Wilkins Ice Shelf was stable for most of the last century, covering around 16,000 square kilometres (6,000 square miles) before it began to retreat in the 1990s.

By May 2009, an ice bridge, about 2.7 kms (1.7 miles) wide on average and just 900 metres (yards) at its narrowest point, was all that connected it to Charcot and Latady islands.

Over the past year, the ice shelf has lost about 1,800 square kilometres (700 square miles), or about 14 percent of its size, in further breakup events, ESA said.

New pictures show "the beginning of what appears to be the demise of the ice bridge" itself, it added.

This week, rifts formed along the central axis of the bridge and a large chunk of ice broke away. The stress patterns are now expanding rapidly, pointing to a likely imminent collapse of the link.

Ice shelves are ledges of thick ice that float on the sea and are attached to the land. They are formed when ice is exuded from ice sheet on land.

In the past 20 years, Antarctica has lost seven shelves.


Antarctica is the world's biggest store of freshwater. Its ice, located on land in two vast slabs and on the peninsula, holds enough water to raise global sea levels by 57 metres (185 feet).

The Antarctic ice shelves do not add to sea levels when they melt. Like the Arctic ice cap, they float on the sea and thus displace their own volume.
   discuss 

[COToy91]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090403/sc_afp/antarcticawarmingice_20090403150607


Antarctica is the world's biggest store of freshwater. Its ice, located on land in two vast slabs and on the peninsula, holds enough water to raise global sea levels by 57 metres (185 feet).

The Antarctic ice shelves do not add to sea levels when they melt. Like the Arctic ice cap, they float on the sea and thus displace their own volume.
   discuss 

Floating ice that melts does not add to sea level, I cap on land masses do. Their weight is not on the surface of the water.

This is not the first occurrence of this happening. A few years ago a very large section broke away and scientist could not believe it. With it gone there was nothing left to hold back land based ice from flowing into the ocean.

What happens is small pools of water form on top of the ice, this water reflects less heat and is warmed by the sun more compared to the ice itself. The warmed water melts its way through the ice till it reaches the ocean (some cases more than 30 ft or more below). Enough of these holes along a similar line allows the ice itself to break off because of waves under the ice and float into warmer waters.

I think of it this way- a solid 2x4 is hard to break in half, but if you drill holes in a line across the board it is much easier to break the board.

[94MtnYote]

 Yeah ice is the most effective reflector of light (heat) in the natural world, water on the other end of the spectrum, absorbs and holds heat.
The earth goes through natural warming and cooling cycles. Who knows if humans have any thing to do with our current warming trend but there is no denying that things are warming up.

[Plekto]

The real problem is that with the ice sheets gone, the land underneath them heats up more as well as it leaves the bottoms of the giant glacier sheets inland exposed and right next to the oceans.  Which undercut them quickly. 

Also, the salinity of the water lowers globally, which interferes with the ability for the thermal layers and ocean currents to work properly.  (and diluted enough, the oceans freeze and thaw easier)

[THK Matt]

Mythbusters did a thing on does melting ice raise the level of the water....

No it doesn't

only if you add it from a source not in the water..... like take it from land and put it in..

[unclejpl4x4]

But but see   this Ice sheet is from the land ( fresh water)  comes out of the ground goes to the sea then frezzes.  now granted its floating on the sea and yes it already displaced the water long long time ago.    but it is fresh water so it will mess up the salinity in the water and the ocean currents = bad real bad.

But because its coming from the land it will keep flowing 

[abnormaltoy]

Since the Earth formed...the trend is cooling  much less lava now than back in the beginning. Climate is always changing...but, remains mostly temperate. The fear mongering with global warming and climate change is a power grab.

Funny article:
http://errortheory.blogspot.com/2008/02/global-warming-alarmists-knew-cooling.html

Why fear warming, when the most prosperous, abundant times in history are warm climes. The times associated with famine and disease are all cool climes.

[kneedownnate]

Yes, get your boats ready...    bring them by my house and I'll do the pre-flooding check 

[WHITE_TRASH]

Yup the earth is warming because plant food is too prevalent in our atmosphere these days....  We are all going to die.

[Plekto]

No, we're just going to add to that plant food...   

In the meantime, why worry?  More water means more mud!   

[WHITE_TRASH]

Nope we are killing the earth, it won't be long until it's a big ball of fire and we are all dead.  I know it's true the great climatologist Al Gore said so.  He has no reason to lie to us, it's not like he will become filthy stinking rich or anything from the hype and hysteria....

[unclejpl4x4]

just think we will be oil  in a few yrs for teh ape people

[yjay]

Global warming would extend the growing season for food crops and thus ease the strain of trying to feed the ever expanding population of the earth. I try to leave the largest carbon footprint possible to aid my fellow man. Plus I'm in northern washington and global warming sounds pretty good right now. Everyone do your part for humanity.

Also, decaying plant matter and volcanic processes release more co2 into the atmosphere than we could ever hope to, even with Gore flying his gulf stream to global warming summits.

[unclejpl4x4]

? what if we use bunker busters on active volcanos   but it sounds fun   j/k 

[abnormaltoy]

Nope we are killing the earth, it won't be long until it's a big ball of fire and we are all dead.  I know it's true the great climatologist Al Gore said so.  He has no reason to lie to us, it's not like he will become filthy stinking rich or anything from the hype and hysteria....

Well...aren't you just a little ray of sunshine! 

[WHITE_TRASH]

Well...aren't you just a little ray of sunshine! 

I'm just all about the troof....

[COToy91]

Yup the earth is warming because plant food is too prevalent in our atmosphere these days....  We are all going to die.

Its not CO2 that is the issue, its CFC's and chlorine molecules from them that disrupt the formation of ozone or O3


O2= O +O
Ozone= O+O+O

Read the book forgiving air and it will all make sense

When

[WHITE_TRASH]

Try telling that to the dumb bastards in gubment...  They all want to regulate the output of Co2...  Personally I call BS that we are doing any harm to the atmosphere but that's just me and a helluva lot of other non gubment funded scientists opinion....

The far left won't stop until we are all regulated into a cave again.  They hate humans and will not stop until they are in complete control of every facet of out lives.

[unclejpl4x4]

just watched this on nova   http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/extremeice/       

[Toymin8r]

The far left won't stop until we are all regulated into a cave again.  They hate humans and will not stop until they are in complete control of every facet of out lives.

If they would all just jump over a cliff then we would decrease the population AND cleanse the gene pool at the same time, thus solving the problem.

[junya92toy]

Did you know that water vapor accounts for 95% of the warming and 99% of that happens naturally.  There is a forest up north in canada alaska and russia that recharges the air every month. Co2 doesnt really seem to be a problem does it

[46&2]

"We know astonishingly little about every aspect of the environment, from its past history, to its present state, to how to conserve and protect it. In every debate, all sides overstate the extent of existing knowledge and its degree of certainty."

-Michael Crichton

[79yota350]

both sides of this argument exaggerate.  you cant say that human activity is not having an effect on the planet, at the same time you cant say that our activity is directly related to changes in our environment.  in the 14Th century the sea levels were 40 ' higher than they are today.  and back then we had very little effect on our planet.  also did you know the average global temperature difference between now and the last ice age is only 6 deg.  at the same time there are many things like ddt that nearly wiped our our own countries bird.  we created it to combat mosquitoes. the frogs and other insects and fish ate the mosquitoes and then bald eagles ate the fish...  and the great bald eagle was allmost extinct because of one simple pesticide.  all we can do is try to think about what we do as a whole.  I'm not giving up my modern amenities but i try to be conscious about what i do to my environment.  and that doesn't mean buy a friggen prius,  they have a larger "carbon footprint" than a hummer when you factor in the creation cost of that car.

[kneedownnate]

and that doesn't mean buy a friggen prius,  they have a larger "carbon footprint" than a hummer when you factor in the creation cost of that car.

But... but... it makes green weenies and the ignorant feel gooder about themselves 

[abnormaltoy]

they have a larger "carbon footprint" than a hummer when you factor in the creation cost of that car.

I thought the worst part about the Prius (other than having to trade your bollocks for labia at purchase time) was the huge amount of heavy metals in the batteries...making disposal more vexatious than nuclear waste storage. Hey...maybe we can get N. Korea to lift the used ones into orbit on their super-rocket!

[79yota350]

that's the same problem i have with those stupid curly cue light bulbs.  i get into it all the time with "Greenies" here about it.  they say "ooh but they are so much more efficient than incandescent " and i say yea but they have lead and Mercury in them... where you think those bulbs go into thin air? most people toss them in the trash even tho your supposed to deposit them at a recycling center.  electric cars are cool but right now its still not plausible.  to long to charge, short battery life, heat problems on and on.  its one thing to have my lithium ion battery catch on fire in my laptop, and another for it to happen in my car.  id like to see diesel/electric like ships, in cars and trucks especially a 4x4.  crazy torque from electric motors.

[kneedownnate]

electric cars are cool but right now its still not plausible.  to long to charge

This is another of my favorites.  We're always supposed to be cutting back on our use of electricity, but what would happen if we were all running battery chargers for our electric cars every night?  We can bounce back and forth about what is harmfull and not, or we could just continue existing and doing what we've done in the past, and if we flopp up too bad mother nature will just send us the way of the dinosaurs    Nature has a way of righting itself.

[BigMike]

My world view will only change if USA and/or Vatican disappear from the face of the earth suddenly.

So, Ice cubes for everyone!

[COToy91]

The funny thing is you are all talking about global warming being the cause of the ice melting in the arctic..... It has nothing to so with it. Ozone depletion is the cause of more radiant heat being put over the arctic in the summer causing more ice to melt.

The greenhouse effect is what causes global warming....


You are arguing to completely separate causes of two completely separate issues here


Global warming is cause by the green house effect- Greenhouse gasses include water vapor(the strongest), Methane, and CO2, and others. These gases absorb more radiant heat if there are more of them within the atmosphere. This absorbed heat is radiated back towards the earth and causes temperature increases.

So the question is does more CO2 cause warming? YES and why? Because it is in the upper atmosphere that these gasses cause their problems. More heat is kept within the earth and thus increasing the temperature. Now an earlier argument said CO2 is just more plant food... well yes, that is if it stayed within the troposphere. But it doesn't so that argument has no bearing in this "debate"

Here is a little diagram to explain what i am saying:

[94MtnYote]

 I saw a program a while back regarding the melting permafrost zone up north. Apparently the permafrost holds vast reserves of methane, a far more dangerous greenhouse gas than C02, as permafrost melts the methane is released.