Latest warmist doomsday fantasy: Massive Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica will 'fall apart overnight' and raise sea levels by ten feet

Americanthinker.com ^ | 1/3/2022 | Thomas Lifson

[rktman]

Some people love to be scared. Mary Shelley knew that when she wrote Frankenstein, and genres of fiction and film exist mining that desire for innocent fun and profit. But when politics enters the fray and fears are stoked to scare people into accepting costly and harmful policies, it is important to push back.

Two articles from last week illustrate the panic-mongering and the responsible citation of fact.

Breitbart highlights a prophet of doom from Rolling Stone magazine, home of the University of Virginia rape hoax story:

The massive Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica could "fall apart overnight" and raise sea levels by 10 feet, declares an article Thursday in Rolling Stone magazine.

The essay by Jeff Goodell, titled "'The Fuse Has Been Blown,' and the Doomsday Glacier Is Coming for Us All," states that cracks and fissures in the Thwaites eastern ice shelf suggest the Florida-sized ice mass "could fracture like a shattered car window in as little as five years."

The West Antarctic ice sheet "is one of the most important tipping points in the Earth's climate system," Goodell asserts. "If Thwaites Glacier collapses, it opens the door for the rest of the West Antarctic ice sheet to slide into the sea."

[Jim Noble]

When the glaciers melted, sea levels rose 400 feet.

[canuck_conservative]

and raise sea levels by 10 feet

No. Here's the REAL math (please excuse the constricted exp. notation) -

1 km2 = 1,000,000 m2

Thwaites Glacier area = 192,000 km2 = 192 x 10 9 m2 (about the size of Florida)

AVERAGE thickness = 500 m (about 1600 feet) (the glacier tapers, being thickest in the middle)

so Volume = 96 x 10 12 m3 of ice

But Area of World's Oceans = 360 x 10 6 km2 = 360 x 10 12 m2

So sea-level rise = 96/360 = 0.27 m (about 11 inches)

...and that's only if the ENTIRE glacier collapses at once, which is highly unlikely

so then suppose half of it collapes ... that's still less than 5" of sea rise, which is well within the normal tidal/storm surge variances ... 10 feet is nonsense

IOW, more needless Media panic!

[Revel]

I hear its snowing in the middle east.

[GingisK]

I've run the computations related to those ice sheets melting, including compensation for the "land bowels" which hold the ice. The ocean could indeed rise 10-12 feet. Given the shorelines around the world, water would not penetrate too far inland. There are a few places that would be submerged. Roof tops and telephone poles would still be visible.

If those sheets completely melted, the world would actually remain mostly intact.

But the truth the alarmists won't utter is that those big sheets aren't melting away. They mostly shift around from place to place.

[canuck_conservative]

When the glaciers melted, sea levels rose 400 feet

they also took 2000 years to melt ... the Ice Ages didn't just end suddenly

[Carl Vehse]

The massive Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica could "fall apart overnight" and raise sea levels by 10 feet, declares an article Thursday in Rolling Stone magazine.

That's just Leftist FAKENEWS!!!

The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder claims "it could lead to even more sea-level rise, up to 10 feet, if it draws the surrounding glaciers with it." [Emphasis added]

[Chode]

and yet, dint i just read the polar ice is thickest on record or something?

[Carriage Hill]

“Mother Nature’s In Charge; We’re Just Along For The Ride.” — Me, 1996.

[roadcat]

Well, my house is 12 feet above sea level, so I’m safe...............

I have an inflatable boat with oars. The way sea levels are rising, I have a few hundred years time to inflate it. Local news was dwelling on a panic story about bay waters at hide tide spilling over a sidewalk at the wharf in San Francisco. Thirty years ago it was doing the same thing at the same spot where I would eat my lunch across from where I worked. No change in water levels at all over decades.

[rktman]

North polar perhaps?

[Seruzawa]

There is an equal chance that a meteorite will fall on Goodell’s head and destroy his brain. Not that anyone would notice.

[LordOddsocks]

Sadly my house is 90 metres (300 feet) above sea level, so even this wont get me near the beach.

[DannyTN]

I’m 823 feet above sea level so I was able to buy the land for my Tennessee Possum Holler International Sea port pretty cheap.

[VanShuyten]

Yes, you’re right on that estimate of sea level rise.

There was a thread about this several weeks ago. It turns out it’s vulcanism under the ice sheet, not global warming, that’s the likely culprit here.

[Salamander]

I was kind of looking forward to mountain top beach property, myself.

:)

[Mouton]

If they rest over land, how is it they are breaking free?

[Red Badger]

I’m glad I paid off my mortgage! ................................

[GingisK]

There are rings of ice floating along the shoreline. Those are pretty small compared to the ice all across the continent.

[hinckley buzzard]

Yeah because Jeff Goodell has a masters of fine arts which qualifies him eminently to speak with authority on the subject of antarctic geology and climatology.

[Sacajaweau]

My first remembrance of the Climate Fiasco was when Gore first began...Hillary stepped to the mike and said this is to induce children to be active in politics. They did achieve what they set out to do...brainwash millions of younguns’ and they continue with their false narratives.