Posted on 02/24/2008 2:24:47 PM PST by qam1
British explorers in West Antarctica reported glacier movement in the region has picked up by a startling seven percent this season, a development, they said, which could lead to a significant rise in sea level.
David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey said the team found new evidence from group of glaciers in West Antarctica which cover an area the size of Texas.
He said the glaciers, particularly the Pine Island Glacier, has surged sharply in speed towards the ocean-- and it's not because of global warming.
Throughout the 1990s, according to satellite measurements, the glacier was accelerating by around one percent a year. The British team said it now seems to have accelerated by seven percent in a single season, sending more and more ice into the ocean.
"The measurements from last season seem to show an incredible acceleration, a rate of up to seven percent. That is far greater than the accelerations they were getting excited about in the 1990s," said team member Julian Scott.
The Pine Island Glacier is a couple of kilometers thick, 30 kilometer wide and is moving at 3.5km per year. Team member Julian Scott theorized that global warming is not the cause. He said it could be a deep ocean current channeling into the continental shelf close to the mouth of the glacier; or, geothermal activity.
Scott's research revealed evidence of a volcano that erupted through the ice about 2,000 years ago. The whole region could be volcanically active and could possibly be releasing geothermal heat to melt the base of the ice and help its slide towards the sea.
If the glacier continues to surge and discharge most of its ice into the sea, the Pine Island Glacier alone could raise global sea level by 25 centimeter. If the entire region were to lose its ice, the sea would rise by 1.5 meters worldwide.
>>Antarctic Glaciers Going To Sea At Faster Rate<<
Well then we ought to use American ingenuity to put masts on them and sail the damn things.
“Is that like farting under the covers?”
I did that once. When the “global warming escaped into the atmosphere, my wife stuck her head under the covers.
Boy, did I get the blunt end of the “global warming’ stick that night.
"How much is that in jigawatts?"
http://www.iceagenow.com/Ocean_Warming.htm
It’s not Global Warming,
it’s Ocean Warming
The Sounds of Climate Change
Underwater volcanoes heating the seas?
8 Jan 08 - “Earthquakes and magma spewing on the seafloor
go hand in hand ... there are new heat sources right off the coast
of Deception Island that no one was aware of before.
See Sounds of Climate Change
.
.
Warming Deep-Sea Temperatures Ended Last Ice Age
Study Validates My Theories
See Warming Deep-Sea Temperatures Ended Last Ice Age
.
.
Unrecognized Underwater Volcanic Activity
13 Jul 07 - Transform faults are not developing or behaving as
theories of plate tectonics say they should. The faults are often
segmented and show signs of recent or ongoing volcanism.
See Unrecognized Underwater Volcanic Activity
.
.
Three Million Underwater Volcanoes
9 Jul 07 - Researchers estimate that in total there could be about 3 million submarine
volcanoes, 39,000 of which rise more than 1000 meters over the sea bed.
See Three Million Underwater Volcanoes
.
.
Japanese scientists discover huge undersea lava plateau
9 Jan 07 - See Underwater Lava Plateau
.
.
Pacific Ocean gives birth to new volcanic island
9 Nov 06 - See New Volcanic Island Near Tonga
There's a newer theory bout the Grand Canyon gorge that postulates a similarly large glacier in Canada burst like a water balloon during its recession.....blasting the entire central area of North America with a land-tsunami....and the canyon it a vestige of the flood. Other evidence includes hills characteristic of water flow across the plains...like the ripples of sand on a wave-washed beach...on steroids.
If that's a similar case in Antarctica, the planet could be in for a major soaking wave sometime soon, as the ice liquefies in the interior, and the ice-dam breaks.
Swoosh! [Bush's fault.]
...On average, Antarctica is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents. Since there is little precipitation, except at the coasts, the interior of the continent is the largest desert in the world...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1975640/posts
We need an expert like Al Gore to sort all this out for us.
The problem is the global warming people will see the sea level rise and hit us with it...
Thanks for the links — I think ;^)
cracks me up....
Wait, if Antartica is mainly ice, then much of it is just floating. Whether it melts or not is of no consequence. Drop an ice cube into your favorite drink and it has the same displacement as if it melts.
That’s what i’ve always thought.
But that makes sense though...
:)
Well, it has happened in the past...remember that this isn't the first warming we've experienced...in fact, here in North America, the crust hasn't totally rebounded from the last glacial coverage.
No...Not any place I know of!
Great idea for a project for the kid's science exhibit/ competition or a great line for Jay Leno. In fact....Thanks
Actually, that's not true. The climate change we've seen to date has been significant. However, the question of whether it's man-made or not is not going to be confirmed anytime soon.
All the talk about it is utterly futile. By all means, investigate the details for the sake of pure knowledge, for its own sake. But pretending anything practical turns on it is utter horsefeathers from start to finish.
Again, not really. If the climate change we've observed is purely natural, then it will mean that the rational managed response to it will be different from if it's not natural. And even if we can't quantify it, we might be able to get qualitative answers that can tell us whether cutting emissions is most efficient--or whether there are other answers, such as counter-revolving sunscreens, or perhaps not doing anything at all.
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