Posted on 05/21/2024 8:35:03 AM PDT by rktman
Ocean water is pushing miles beneath Antarctica’s “Doomsday Glacier,” making it more vulnerable to melting than previously thought, according to new research which used radar data from space to perform an X-ray of the crucial glacier.
As the salty, relatively warm ocean water meets the ice, it’s causing “vigorous melting” underneath the glacier and could mean global sea level rise projections are being underestimated, according to the study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica — nicknamed the “Doomsday Glacier” because its collapse could cause catastrophic sea level rise — is the world’s widest glacier and roughly the size of Florida. It’s also Antarctica’s most vulnerable and unstable glacier, in large part because the land on which it sits slopes downward, allowing ocean waters to eat away at its ice.
Thwaites, which already contributes 4% to global sea level rise, holds enough ice to raise sea levels by more than 2 feet. But because it also acts as a natural dam to the surrounding ice in West Antarctica, scientists have estimated its complete collapse could ultimately lead to around 10 feet of sea level rise — a catastrophe for the world’s coastal communities.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Indeed. Maybe Biden can sign an executive order, to forbid the ocean from flowing beneath the glacier. 👎
So much bull flop…so little time
Fill up a cup with water. Put an ice cube in it. Question is, when the ice cube melts, will the volume of water rise? Answer is no. A iceberg in the ocean already takes up the volume. It can melt, break off and settle in NY harbor and it wouldn’t add an inch of water to the harbor.
So the measurement is how many square miles are ice flows which are land based, their aggregated volume and if they fall into the sea, how much will the ocean rise? Sounds like a simple equation.
I live around 100 miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean. People who operate sand pits in the region say that they often come across shells and other evidence our area was once at the bottom of the sea. Also with farmers who say the same things are unearthed from plowing. What goes around, come around!! We are not in control.
This stuff is called “shore-fast ice”. It does have water running under parts of it. However, it is still partially supported by land and is attached to additional ice which is fully supported by land. If, as, or when this ice breaks free of land and slides into the ocean, it will increase the amount of water in the ocean.
The question is not “will the collapse of this glacier raise world sea levels?” The answer to that is simply “yes”.
The question is “by how much will the collapse of this glacier raise world sea levels?”. I don’t know the answer to that; I suspect that you don’t either. And I don’t trust the “climate change” alarmists to answer it honestly.
*
“Perhaps I’m not a scientist but doesn’t ice expand when it’s frozen and then takes up less volume when it melts, if that’s true why wouldn’t ocean levels go down instead of up if that glacier melts”
1. If the ice is floating it displaces the exact same amount of water as contained in the ice so melting would not reduce sea levels.
2. It is a glacier, not an iceberg. As it melts, it adds mass to the oceans.
High concentration of volcanoes here
My oceanfront mansion is doomed.
What? I don’t own an oceanfront mansion?
Never mind.
“If it breaks off, it will float.......”
Displacing sea water leads to a rise in levels.
And we’re somehow responsible for that?? Nature wil do what it’s gonna do.
“If it breaks off, it will:
1) no longer be supported by land.
2) be driven into warmer waters where it will melt.
Land ice entering the ocean increases the amount of water in the ocean.”
Given a break off, sea levels change. As an iceberg melts no level changes.
Nuke the glacier, its the only way.
Area of world’s oceans is 140,000,000 square miles. Area glacier 73,000 square miles. Glacier roughly 1/2000 area of oceans.
Depth ice sheet between 0.5 and 0.75 mi. Say averaging 3500 feet.
So if the whole thing melted at once 3500 vertical ft of water spread out 2000 times the area, I guess you get 1.8 feet ocean rise. Roughly.
You can do this experiment at home.
You need a large glass mixing bowl, some salt, some water, and some ice cubes.
Sea water is approximately 3.5% salinity, so mix up some pseudo seawater in your glass bowl. Use a grease pencil to mark the water line.
Add some ice cubes, make sure they’re all floating. You should see the water level rise. This simulates land ice entering the water. Mark the new water level. Let the ice melt. Does the water level rise, fall, or remain the same as the ice melts?
Empty the bowl and start over. Make some new “seawater”, and again mark the water level. Then pile the bowl full of ice cubes, so that the pile of ice cubes touches the bottom and rises more than one ice cube width above the water level. Mark the new LIQUID water level. Tis simulates shore-fast ice. Let the ice melt. As it melts, does the liquid water level rise, fall, or remain the same?
IF ANYONE could please post the graph of Greenland Ice Core Global Temperatures for the last 12000 years I would appreciate it.
I need it to show a Global Warming believer that I work with. I can not find it on the internet.
“You are correct, but for a few problems. If I am not mistaken, the volume different is a few percent. It is not substantial. The main problem is that the glacier is currently mostly above the waterline, due to it’s connection to the antarctic continent. If it gets undermined and then falls in, 90%+ of it’s volume will be added to the sea (because ice has the higher volume, iceberg tips are above water due to buoyancy), and then as it melts all of the volume is added”
He is incorrect. You are partially correct.
“iceberg tips are above water due to buoyancy), and then as it melts all of the volume is added””
All the MASS is added.
The floating iceberg displaces an amount of water equal to the water in the iceberg so as it melts no sea level change.
Excusing small salinity effects.
“The earth is calculated to be only 0.5% water so what harm could a little extra water do? Just more fear porn.”
You make no sense.
If fills up the same volume that it displaced.
Think of a glass full of ice, topped off to the rim with water.
When the ice fully melts, there is no increase in the water in the glass. The level stays the same.
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