Posted on 10/17/2005 12:39:54 PM PDT by Ben Mugged
Antarctica is melting, adding to the inexorable rise in global sea levels, endangering millions of lives and whole economies, leading scientists said on Monday.
But while the effect is well known after years of monitoring from land and space, the reasons for the sea warming are not.
"We know sea levels will rise. We need to know by how much and why," Anthony Payne of the University of Bristol and one of the organizers of a major scientific conference in London, told Reuters on the sidelines of the meeting at the Royal Society, Britain's national academy of science.
"This has implications for the whole world most people and industries are in coastal areas," he added.
Payne said there was a net loss of mass in Antarctica as the snowfall in the center of the frigid landmass was more than offset by sea ice melting around the edges.
The key was to find out whether the process was accelerating, or whether it might stabilize or even reverse.
And the important factor was understanding the complex interaction between ocean and wind currents and how much if any of the warming of the seas was due to mankind's contribution to global warming.
"We know a lot more about the ice sheets than we did before," Payne said. "We know change is happening and that it is rapid. What we don't know is why or what is causing it what proportion is anthropomorphic."
Scientists calculate that average world temperatures which have already risen by 0.6 degrees Celsius (1.1 Fahrenheit) since 1900 could rise by at least two more degrees this century, due in large part to greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Is the ice melting or is it increasing in volume? Can't have it both ways.
Wanna bet they can't?
Liberal science. It doesn't have to make sense.
This has implications, alright. Alot of media, proffesorship and pundit jobs are on the line if this global warming stuff isn't true.
If you can't blind them with your brilliance, baffle them with your bull shat.
Ice shelves in Antarctica are floating. Melting of floating ice does not increase sea levels.
Bird flu will kill millions. Some day. For sure. Maybe.
But, sound the alarm! Oh, and send money.
"Predicted increases in precipitation due to warmer air temperatures from greenhouse gas emissions may actually increase sea ice volume in the Antarctic's Southern Ocean."
I think they mean floating ice in the sea as warming causes ice around the edges to break off.
Why would ice melting cause the sea level to rise? Ice takes up more room than water. When the ice in my tea melts the glass doesn't overflow. :^)
Further pushing comes from "Day After Tomorrow". In the 70s and 80s it was the ozone layer diminishing with the push by EPA for businesses to make really costly changes even down to spray cans elimination. Now this.
I thought SARS was supposed to do that.
Maybe its an unknown species of giant animal causing it, just like the new science fiction series "Surface", which is on NBC I think. (I saw some episodes on Sci-Fi).
http://www.crystalinks.com/archimedes.html
Archimedes principle: don't bathe with Greeks.
"Why would ice melting cause the sea level to rise? Ice takes up more room than water. When the ice in my tea melts the glass doesn't overflow. :^)"
Because the ice is above sea level.
If you put enough ice cubes in a glass so that the top ones are above the liquid level then the liquid level will rise as the ice melts.
My ice maker is working just fine.
Global Warming is an all-knowing all-doing disaster. Every effect of global warming is negative. Every type of natural disaster is made worse because of global warming. It makes places too dry, drier, and it makes places that are too wet, wetter. Never underestimate the power of global warming.
You got it right. I saw a scientist on TV demonstrate the same principle. He had a bowl filled with ice and added water to the top of the bowl's rim. If the global warming fear mongers are correct, that water should have overflown the bowl as the ice melted. Didn't happen. Read Michael Crichton's book, State of Fear, and a lot of this Antarctica stuff is debunked. No mention at all about the Solar storms and how the ice is melting on Mars, too. Maybe the methane from all our cows is permeating up to other planets???
If sea levels start rising, we'll hear about it from folks on the coasts first.
Do not taunt global warming.
For me it's simply "thermohaline circulation" changes. The problem is determining the cause(s).
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