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Mammoth iceberg could alter ocean circulation: study
AFP on Yahoo ^ | 2/25/10 | Marlowe Hood

Posted on 02/25/2010 4:01:41 PM PST by NormsRevenge

PARIS (AFP) – An iceberg the size of Luxembourg knocked loose from the Antarctic continent earlier this month could disrupt the ocean currents driving weather patterns around the globe, researchers said Thursday.

While the impact would not be felt for decades or longer, a slowdown in the production of colder, dense water could result in less temperate winters in the north Atlantic, they said.

The 2550 square-kilometre (985 square-mile) block broke off on February 12 or 13 from the Mertz Glacier Tongue, a 160-kilometer spit of floating ice protruding into the Southern Ocean from East Antarctica due south of Melbourne, researchers said.

Some 400 metres (1300 feet) thick, the iceberg could fill Sydney Harbour more than 100 times over.

It could also disturb the area's exceptionally rich biodiversity, including a major colony of emperor penguins near Dumont d'Urville, site of a French scientific station, according to the scientists.

"The ice tongue was almost broken already. It was hanging like a loose tooth," said Benoit Legresy, a French glaciologist who has been monitoring the Metz Glacier via satellite images and on the ground for a decade in cooperation with Australian scientists.

The billion-tonne mass was dislodged by another, older iceberg, known as B9B, which split off in 1987.

Jammed against the Antarctic continent for more than 20 years, B9B smashed into the Metz tongue like a slow-motion battering ram after it began to drift.

Both natural cycles and manmade climate change contribute to the collapse ice shelves and glaciers.

Tide and ocean currents constantly beat against exposed areas, while longer summers and rising temperatures also take a toll.

"Obviously when there is warmer water, these ice tongues will become more fragile," said Legresy, who works at the Laboratory for Geophysics and Oceanographic Space Research in Toulouse, southern France.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: amazongate; carbontrade; catastrophism; circulation; climatechange; climatechangedata; czechgate; glaciergate; globalwarmingscandal; globqalwarminghoax; iceberg; ipcc; mammoth; ocean; pachauri; pachaurigate; scandinaviagate
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To: Teflonic
This article says it was dislodged by another large, twenty year old iceberg ramming against it.

Roughly 50 miles long and 20 miles wide, a mere speck in the ocean.

41 posted on 02/25/2010 7:02:30 PM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: NormsRevenge
Here's the view from Modis Aqua on February 20, 2010. For size comparison I've also included a view at the same scale of the Florida Keys on the same date.


42 posted on 02/25/2010 8:04:32 PM PST by dr_lew
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To: NormsRevenge

pppppping.


43 posted on 02/25/2010 8:59:15 PM PST by Beowulf9
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To: Marine_Uncle

I don’t konw,...don’t remember a thread...but there is such a flood,..I may have forgotten.

Hope the snow level works out for you,...whichever is your preference.


44 posted on 02/25/2010 10:09:31 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach ( Support Geert Wilders)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Ah. It was the start of this tread from a few days ago. I thought I saw similar reference earlier in the week.


45 posted on 02/26/2010 2:17:22 PM PST by Marine_Uncle (Honor must be earned....)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach; 75thOVI; aimhigh; Alice in Wonderland; AndrewC; aragorn; aristotleman; ...
An iceberg the size of Luxembourg knocked loose from the Antarctic continent earlier this month...
Why couldn't it have been the size of Iceland, at least that would have been funny. ;') Thanks Ernest.
 
Catastrophism
 
· join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · subscribe ·
 

46 posted on 02/26/2010 7:20:58 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Freedom is Priceless.)
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To: SunkenCiv

I just have a feeling that it will break up and melt.

Ice tends to do that when you expose it to warmer water. You don’t need much of a “study” to figure that one out.

An iceberg the size they are talking about in relation to the ocean, would be like throwing an ice cube from your freezer into a swimming pool. I have a very difficult time believing it will make a bit of difference.

I’m sure the people that did this “study” were indeed well paid/rewarded though.....


47 posted on 02/26/2010 7:52:05 PM PST by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: NormsRevenge
“The Day After Tomorrow” was a DOCUMENTARY!

Oh, Dear God, I knew it was true!

48 posted on 02/26/2010 7:56:01 PM PST by LiberConservative (Obama: the "corpse man" president.)
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To: KoRn

:’)


49 posted on 02/26/2010 8:03:40 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Freedom is Priceless.)
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To: NormsRevenge

I could think of more appropriate effigies.


50 posted on 02/26/2010 10:22:12 PM PST by Mike Darancette (You know Obama is in trouble when the MSM mentions that he is half white.)
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To: NormsRevenge
a slowdown in the production of colder, dense water could result in less temperate winters in the north Atlantic, they said.

I am sure this is nonsense, but look at the reason why they are saying it.

They are saying that there will be colder winters in Europe, because of an iceberg disrupting currents in the south of the world (????) ... not to a failure of global warming.

51 posted on 02/27/2010 12:57:26 AM PST by BlackVeil
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To: NormsRevenge
That's a lot of ice cubes!


52 posted on 02/27/2010 2:57:02 AM PST by M. Espinola (Freedom is never "free")
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To: NormsRevenge

53 posted on 02/27/2010 3:03:42 AM PST by Fresh Wind ("...a whip of political correctness strangles their voice"-Vaclav Klaus on GW skeptics)
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