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 ...
If the ice is displacing water it will always be "above" the liquid level, at least part of it. If it is floating in the ocean it will displace water and when it melts it will not cause the level of the ocean to rise, in fact the oceans level would actually go down somewhat if all floating ice were to melt. It is not possible to fill the ocean up with ice, ice floats and it would be rather difficult to stack ice in the ocean the same way you can stack ice cubes into a glass before putting liquid into it.
To sum it up, ocean ice, that is ice floating in the ocean, will not add to sea volume when it melts.
Geo-thermal activity just below the surface???
Why not? Water shrinks as it freezes, wouldn't the volumn increase as it melts?
Not from astronomers. Solar output -- solar output -- solar output.
" Not from astronomers. Solar output -- solar output -- solar output."
At the absolute most, solar radiation may explain 35% of the wroming onver the lat 20 years and most reputable scientists think it explains 10% or less.
It doesn't at all explain the behavior prior to the last 20 years.
Thanks for the refrence. That makes it pretty clear that while we do have cause for concern, there's not a hellova lot we can do about it.
How Stuff Works indicates there are 326,000,000,000,000,000,000 gallons of water on earth. If one assumes that the majority is in the oceans, and if the oceans temperature increased by 1 degree, then an additional 32,600,000,000,000,000 gallons by volume would be added. It is estimated 1.6% of all earths water is in the polar ice caps or 5,216,000,000,000,000,000 gallons. Seems like a 1 degree rise in water temperature would raise the oceans a considerable amount.
"How Stuff Works indicates there are 326,000,000,000,000,000,000 gallons of water on earth. If one assumes that the majority is in the oceans, and if the oceans temperature increased by 1 degree, then an additional 32,600,000,000,000,000 gallons by volume would be added. It is estimated 1.6% of all earths water is in the polar ice caps or 5,216,000,000,000,000,000 gallons. Seems like a 1 degree rise in water temperature would raise the oceans a considerable amount."
I'm not convinced that the warming is all the way down to the bottom of the ocean but other than that I follow your math.
Decreased solar activity during the 1938 to around 1970 would create the 'cooling' condition for that time period.
Many people forget that the earth is not warmed by 'sunlight' (the visible spectrum) but 'gamma' and 'infrared' radiation which penetrates the earths' crust, including the 'ice' packs sitting on it's surface.
A reduction in solar cycles (flares) also causes a reduction in these forms of radiation reaching the earth and leads to a reduction in 'heat'.
Thanks - excellent material. I don't agree with the Global Warming chicken littles, so I appreciate the new ammo. I just moved to Michigan from Florida, and we had the nicest summer up here, very warm for a change. I would be thrilled if all that "global warming" continued on into the winter, but I hear it is supposed to be really cold with lots of snow. Hmm. Just like most Michigan winters. And all that Arctic ice will be frozen solid again very soon. ;o)
Remember this?
"In what political watchers are calling possibly the biggest gaffe in years, former Vice President Al Gore is set to give a speech tomorrow on the perils of global warming -- on what is expected to be the coldest day in New England in nearly half a century!"
Sorry to jump in the thread but after reading it I couldn't resist.
"Remember this? "
Yep!
I'm still laughing evertime Gore opens his mouth about 'global warming'!
Sorry!
evertime = EVERYtime
:0)
I know I'm going out on a limb here but anything to help out the headline writer...is it possible that the ice is melting because the water's warmer?
So, exactly how far inland should I purchase my ocean-front properties?
Enjoy those warm Michigan summers while you can. If the author is correct, you can expect some glaciers descending from the North as part of the next Ice Age.
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