Posted on 12/17/2008 6:10:48 AM PST by PreciousLiberty
(CNN) -- Between 1.5 trillion and 2 trillion tons of ice in Greenland, Antarctica and Alaska have melted at an accelerating rate since 2003, according to NASA scientists, in the latest signs of what they say is global warming. This image shows the changing rate of mass in mountain glaciers on the Gulf of Alaska.
Using new satellite technology that measures changes in mass in mountain glaciers and ice sheets, NASA geophysicist Scott Luthcke concluded that the losses amounted to enough water to fill the Chesapeake Bay 21 times.
"The ice tells us in a very real way how the climate is changing," said Luthcke, who will present his findings this week at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco, California.
NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, or GRACE, mission uses two orbiting satellites to measure the "mass balance" of a glacier, or the net annual difference between ice accumulation and ice loss.
"A few degrees of change [in temperature] can increase the amount of mass loss, and that contributes to sea level rise and changes in ocean current," Luthcke said.
The data reflects findings from NASA colleague Jay Zwally, who uses different satellite technology to observe changing ice volume in Greenland, the Arctic and Antarctica.
In the past five years, Greenland has lost between 150 gigatons and 160 gigatons each year, (one gigaton equals one billion tons) or enough to raise global sea levels about .5 mm per year, said Zwally, who will also present his findings at the conference this week.
GRACE measured that mountain glaciers in the Gulf of Alaska lost about 84 gigatons each year, about five times the average annual flow of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, according to NASA.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
"Surface snowmelt in Antarctica in 2008, as derived from spaceborne passive microwave observations at 19.35 gigahertz, was 40% below the average of the period 1987–2007. The melting index (MI, a measure of where melting occurred and for how long) in 2008 was the second-smallest value in the 1987–2008 period, with 3,465,625 square kilometers times days (km2 × days) against the average value of 8,407,531 km2 × days (Figure 1a). Melt extent (ME, the extent of the area subject to melting) in 2008 set a new minimum with 297,500 square kilometers, against an average value of approximately 861,812 square kilometers.
This evidence suggests that Antarctica, where 90% of the land based ice in the world resides, is increasing in mass. And this fact is ignored or downplayed in virtually every mainstream report."
From:
http://ecoworld.com/blog/2008/04/17/antarcticas-ice-mass/
Another good Antarctic ice story:
http://www.physorg.com/news4180.html
You may also want to review yesterday's companion thread (different study, different article, same NASA alarmism):
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2149669/posts
Oops, also forgot to include in my post that the Alaskan glaciers have been INCREASING in size the last two years, which was rather duplicitously ignored in the article as well... ;-)
It unlocks all that water so that it can be 'redistributed' to the drought stricken areas of the world.
Possibly indicating onset of a polar reversal/slide. That’s what happens when one side of a rapidly rotating sphere with a slippery skin...Earth. Just sayin’.
“when” should be “with”
I wonder why they picked just that year. When we pick 1998 to show the earth has cooled since then, the lefties freak out about how its not a long enough time to show a pattern. But they can grab 2003 and its long enough?
Why not just look back as far as we can using satellites and compare it to today:
Typical NASA scientific dodgeball.
Obama elected Pres , check
Appointing corrupt left weenies, check
Ramp up globull warming scam, check
“I wonder why they picked just that year. When we pick 1998 to show the earth has cooled since then, the lefties freak out about how its not a long enough time to show a pattern. But they can grab 2003 and its long enough?”
Exactly. And once again an essentially local phenomenon is used as “proof” of something global, while ignoring contradictory local phenomena elsewhere. Very poor science.
To understand the media and ice, keep in mind they are only reporting on the left side of this picture.
NASA has just been infiltrated by extreme Leftists who know how to keep that Federal grant money flowing like melting glaciers.
They will “save” us from ourselves.
Before
After!
I used to be a big fan of the space program and NASA. With NASA in the tank for global warming, manufacturing inaccurate reports to support the unsupportable, I have to reconsider.
NASA has passed it’s prime and seems to want to be a political agency. In that case, let NASA go away. If there are things to be done in space, let the free market drive it. (I never thought I’d say that!)
Melting floating ice doesn’t change water levels. Melting landlocked ice (which is what this article is referencing) does. Never mind that whatever ice is being “lost” is likely being made up in spades elsewhere!
I think a lot of this controversy will die off after this winter. ;-)
Many miles inside the Arctic Circle, scientists have found elusive vents of scalding liquid rising out of the seafloor at temperatures that are more than twice the boiling point of water.
The cluster of five hydrothermal vents, also called black smokers, were discovered farther north than any others previously identified. The vents, one of which towers four stories high, are located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between Greenland and Norway, more than 120 miles farther north than other known vents.
Remotely operated vehicles photographed the scene as part of an expedition led by Rolf Pedersen, a geologist at the University of Bergen in Norway.
Black smokers have been found in many deep-sea locations, including on the Juan de Fuca Ridge off Washington and British Columbia. Despite the lack of sunlight to power life in the abyss, the vents often support unique communities of creatures that live off their warmth and chemicals. Some scientists think the vents would have been great locales for the origin of life on Earth.
Dissolved sulfide minerals that solidify when vent water hits the icy cold of the deep sea have, over the years, accumulated around the newfound vent field in what is one of the most massive such deposits ever found on the seafloor, said expedition member Marvin Lilley, a University of Washington oceanographer.
The vents are created where the seafloor spreads apart. The farther north one goes along the ridge, the slower the spreading is.
“We hadn’t expected a lot of active venting on ultra-slow spreading ridges,” Lilley said.
“I used to be a big fan of the space program and NASA. With NASA in the tank for global warming, manufacturing inaccurate reports to support the unsupportable, I have to reconsider.
NASA has passed it’s prime and seems to want to be a political agency. In that case, let NASA go away. If there are things to be done in space, let the free market drive it. (I never thought I’d say that!)”
Funnily, I was thinking pretty much the same thing this morning. :-/
Truthfully, NASA’s efforts at space exploration have been lackluster for a long time. No interesting new spacecraft for many years now... The robotic missions have been interesting, if not terribly ambitious.
Time for nuclear spaceships! :-)
[Yeah, I know it’ll have to wait at least one more administration.]
The Best Global Warming Videos on the Internet |
That would amount to ice in an area that is 10 feet deep by 200 miles by 200 miles melting.
Not a very big chunk. Sounds really large but when you do the math it isn’t a big area at all.
Sure when you redistribute the water its good for everybody.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.