Study raises concerns over big, rapidly thinning Antarctic glacier

CNN ^ | March 18, 2015 | Jethro Mullen

[2ndDivisionVet]

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)

Scientists have raised concerns about a large, rapidly thinning glacier in Antarctica, warning it could contribute significantly to rising sea levels.

They say they've discovered two openings that could channel warm seawater to the base of the huge Totten Glacier and bring the threat of potentially disastrous melting.

The glacier is bigger and thinning faster than all the others in East Antarctica.

It contains enough ice to raise the global sea level by at least 11 feet (3.4 meters), according to researchers from the University of Texas at Austin who were among the authors of a new study published this week in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Scientists had previously detected warm water on the seaward side of the glacier. But until now, they had found no evidence that it could threaten coastal ice.

"We now know there are avenues for the warmest waters in East Antarctica to access the most sensitive areas of Totten Glacier," said Jamin Greenbaum, a University of Texas Ph.D. candidate and the lead author of the study....

[SpaceBar]

Male planet baldness.

[bluejean]

Oh crap! Cue Algore to run for President. An inconvenient glacier is having a meltdown.

[bigbob]

[Gene Eric]

>> Scientists had previously detected warm water on the seaward side of the glacier.

When? At what regularity and deviation from historical average?

The Solar Change deniers should make an effort to provide more data.

[FlingWingFlyer]

They do tend to “thin rapidly” when they are sitting on top of an underwater volcano. Believe it or not, that lava is hot even when it comes out under the water. Ask yer college perfesser! LOL!

[Colorado Doug]

"We now know there are grants availableavenues for the warmest waters in East Antarctica to access the most sensitive areas of Totten Glacier," said Jamin Greenbaum, a University of Texas Ph.D. candidate and the lead author of the study....

There, fixed it.

[Rembrandt]

Oh Heavens, are there only three, maybe two, polar bears tap dancing on a couple of ice cubes. Oh, the inhumanity.

BTW, I understand that polar bear steaks taste ok.

[marron]

If only it were so. Warmer weather is a good thing.

[P-Marlowe]

Scientists....

I stopped reading after that word.

[PieterCasparzen]

Quick, somebody tell Amsterdam, the city of Venice, Italy and Manhattan.

Why don’t those people all run for higher ground ?

I mean, Gore said the seas would rise any day now.

Certainly the minute Baraky leaves office, the seas will rise.

[piytar]

Who says he’s ever leaving?

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

That does it. Shut down all fossil fuel based electrical generation now. We must freeze in the dark for our own good!

[oldbrowser]

It contains enough ice to raise the global sea level by at least 11 feet (3.4 meters),

What they don't tell you is that this is being offset by corresponding increases ice on the other pole.

[Impala64ssa]

Scientists....
Scientists who receive gov't grants and possibly contributions from the eco groups to "produce results". So their "sky is falling" findings are as meaningful as Bill Gates issuing a strong buy recommendation on Microsoft.

[upchuck]

You, too, can be a big time climate change scientist.

Here’s a simple experiment you can do to simulate a melting glacier:

Fill a clear drinking glass 1/2 full with water. Add several pinches of salt and stir until salt is dissolved. This becomes the “ocean” in which the experiment will be conducted.

Put an ice cube (glacier) in the ocean.

Carefully mark the level of the ocean in the glass. This gives you the ocean depth.

Allow the glacier to melt in the ocean.

Check the mark on the drinking glass. Any increase or decrease in the ocean depth?

Smugly tell your family and friends how you proved the scientists are full of BS.

[Paladin2]

But who is to regulate Polar Bear BBQs of pengiuns?

[kaehurowing]

Sucks to be Venice.

[Fungi]

Nonsense. Pure unadulterated nonsense. The world is on fire with terrorism and these guys are concerned about a block of ice. We are doomed if we do not draw a line, and not a red one a la Syria.

[Impala64ssa]

You, too, can be a big time climate change scientist.
Yup, I remember that experiment back in jr. high school. Our physics teacher taught us young skulls full of mush that water is an unusual substance in that it CONTRACTS when heated from a frozen to a liquid state and EXPANDS when cooled from a liquid to solid (ice). I confirmed this phenomenon the hard way a few years later when I neglected to make sure I had enough antifreeze in the radiator of my 65 Buick just before a cold snap and caused the top of the radiator to split from the core. DOH!