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Alp-sized peaks found below Antarctic ice [Covered by 2.5-mile thick ice]
The Times of India ^ | 26 Feb., 2009 | The Times of India

Posted on 02/25/2009 1:49:20 PM PST by MyTwoCopperCoins

OSLO: Jagged mountains the size of the Alps have been found entombed in Antarctica’s ice, giving new clues about the vast ice sheet that will raise world sea levels if even a fraction of it melts, scientists said. Using radar and gravity sensors, the experts made the first detailed maps of the Gamburtsev subglacial mountains, originally detected by Russian scientists 50 years ago at the heart of the East Antarctic ice sheet.

“The surprising thing was that not only is this mountain range the size of the Alps, but it looks quite similar to the (European) Alps, with high peaks and valleys,” said Fausto Ferraccioli, a geophysicist at the British Antarctic Survey who took part in the research.

He said that the mountains would probably have been ground down almost flat if the ice sheet had formed slowly. But the presence of jagged peaks might mean the ice formed quickly, burying a landscape under up to 4 km of ice.

Ferraccioli said on Tuesday that the maps were “the first page of a new book” of understanding how ice sheets behave, which in turn could help predict how the ice will react to global warming. Antarctica, bigger than the United States, has been swathed in ice for about 35 million years, and contains enough of it to raise world sea levels by about 57 metres if it ever all melted. So even a fractional melt would affect coasts around the globe. “Unless we have a basic understanding of how ice sheets work, any sort of predictive model won’t match reality,” Ferraccioli said.

The team of experts from Australia, Britain, Canada, China, Germany, Japan and the United States also found water below the ice, using survey aircraft that flew 120,000 km. “As our two survey aircraft flew over the flat white ice sheet, the instrumentation revealed a remarkably rugged terrain with deeply etched valleys and very steep mountain peaks,” said Michael Studinger, co-leader of the US portion of the Antarctica’s Gamburstev Province project.

The initial data also appear to confirm earlier findings that a vast aquatic system of lakes and rivers exists beneath the ice sheet of Antarctica. Geologists say that mountain ranges such as the Alps or the Himalayas form in collisions between continents. The last time Antarctica was exposed to such forces was 500 million years ago. “The mystery here is that the Alps are only 50 to 60 million years old, while here we have a mountain range that may perhaps be as old as 500 million years,” Ferraccioli said.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: alps; antarctica; ice; mountains
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1 posted on 02/25/2009 1:49:21 PM PST by MyTwoCopperCoins
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins
The team of experts from Australia, Britain, Canada, China, Germany, Japan and the United States

Miskatonic University must really be pulling in the international students these days.

2 posted on 02/25/2009 1:51:19 PM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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They’re only 6,000 years old.


3 posted on 02/25/2009 1:53:28 PM PST by evets (God is love.)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

“...2.5-mile thick ice...”

####

According to current Climate Change “science”, if I drive my 400HP, 8 cylinder SUV the 15 miles home from work tonight at about 70 MPH, I ought to be able to melt a good 7 or 8 miles of that.

What say?


4 posted on 02/25/2009 1:55:46 PM PST by EyeGuy
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins
And good news:

This 2.5 mile-thick ice shelf will be melted in five years, so we'll be able to see this amazing mountain range!

Can't wait.

5 posted on 02/25/2009 1:58:36 PM PST by Flycatcher (God speaks to us, through the supernal lightness of birds, in a special type of poetry.)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins
Antarctica, bigger than the United States, has been swathed in ice for about 35 million years, and contains enough of it to raise world sea levels by about 57 metres if it ever all melted

Fear mongering statements like that are just as idiotic as stating how much the world would explode if every ounce of uranium on earth ever reached critical mass simultaneously.
6 posted on 02/25/2009 2:00:06 PM PST by messierhunter
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

Can’t be. Cuz the ice down there is like all melted and stuff.


7 posted on 02/25/2009 2:00:07 PM PST by BenLurkin (Mornie` utulie`. Mornie` alantie`.)
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To: messierhunter
if every ounce of uranium on earth ever reached critical mass simultaneously.

Great. Something else to worry about.

8 posted on 02/25/2009 2:00:50 PM PST by BenLurkin (Mornie` utulie`. Mornie` alantie`.)
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To: messierhunter

I should also add, antartica’s ice is growing, not shrinking, just like uranium isotopes constantly decay, they don’t enrich themselves.


9 posted on 02/25/2009 2:01:21 PM PST by messierhunter
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

What are we waiting for...lets dropblast the range so we can see it NOW!! We`re doomed anyway.


10 posted on 02/25/2009 2:02:17 PM PST by He who knoweth not his name
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins
“Unless we have a basic understanding of how ice sheets work, any sort of predictive model won’t match reality,” Ferraccioli said.

Why? It's never stopped global warming scientists before.

11 posted on 02/25/2009 2:07:52 PM PST by denydenydeny ("I'm sure this goes against everything youÂ’ve been taught, but right and wrong do exist"-Dr House)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

Not such a mystery if you accept the lore of the ancients about past earth catastrophes and what caused them


12 posted on 02/25/2009 2:07:52 PM PST by silverleaf (Freedom's just another word for "nothing left to lose")
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

“Jagged mountains the size of the Alps have been found entombed in Antarctica’s ice, giving new clues about the vast ice sheet that will raise world sea levels if even a fraction of it melts, scientists said.”

Well then, these scientists are idiots.

Fill a glass nearly full with water. Add enough ice cubes to float above the lip of the glass. Leave it out and watch to see if it overflows the glass when it melts.


13 posted on 02/25/2009 2:08:18 PM PST by autumnraine (Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose- Kris Kristoferrson VIVA LA REVOLUTION!)
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To: Flycatcher
Antarctica, bigger than the United States, has been swathed in ice for about 35 million years...

And it's going to melt in our lifetime? 35 million years and it waits for us? How improbable.

14 posted on 02/25/2009 2:13:42 PM PST by GOPJ (People who can't use the new phone system are trying to redesign half the US economy - Brooks)
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To: BenLurkin
Can’t be. Cuz the ice down there is like all melted and stuff.

Yeah, and it all Bush and Cheney's fault... them and their weather machines.

15 posted on 02/25/2009 2:14:26 PM PST by Prospero (non est ad astra mollis e terris via)
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To: autumnraine

Antarctica is a continent, so the ice is on land, not in the water. If all of it melts, it will in fact increase the sea levels substantially. Ice that is floating will not affect sea levels, even if it melts. Sorry, but in this case the scientists are not idiots.


16 posted on 02/25/2009 2:14:31 PM PST by ga medic
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

Shifting of Earth’s magnetic poles, ancient Vedic cities, the mountains of madness, varunas, underground seas, civilizations so old.......


17 posted on 02/25/2009 2:15:41 PM PST by swarthyguy ("We may be crazy in Pakistan, but not completely out of our minds," ISI Gen. Ahmed Shujaa Pasha)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

In five years when all the ice melts they would be a great place to hike and ski. I can’t wait to make reservations for the first resort. Heck real estate would be a good investment.


18 posted on 02/25/2009 2:19:00 PM PST by jesseam (Been there and done that!)
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To: autumnraine
Fill a glass nearly full with water. Add enough ice cubes to float above the lip of the glass. Leave it out and watch to see if it overflows the glass when it melts.

Sorry to inform you that you are totally and completely wrong ( in the case at hand).

Your analogy does not work because the ice in question is located on land and not floating in water as in a glass. You are correct that ice in water displaces exactly the same amount of water as it will add to the glass when melted.

But the ice in question is not floating in the ocean but is located on land. If it melted it would run off the land and in to the ocean adding to the volume of water in the ocean.

Unrelated another thing would also happen as the weight the ice lessened on the land would cause what is known as rebound. The mountains would grow as a result of the ice no longer pressing down on them.

19 posted on 02/25/2009 2:19:08 PM PST by Pontiac (Your message here.)
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To: GOPJ
That's what Al Gore says. In late 2007 -- on video -- he assured his listeners that all the Arctic ice would be melted in five years. I assume all the Antarctic ice will be gone too by then.

Good thing we have Al Gore to tell us what's in our future. He's so wise and caring.

20 posted on 02/25/2009 2:19:21 PM PST by Flycatcher (God speaks to us, through the supernal lightness of birds, in a special type of poetry.)
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