Wilkins Ice Shelf under threat

[elegantelliotoffen]

http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMXK5AWYNF_planet_0.html

 

In February 2008 an area of about 400 km² broke off from the ice shelf, narrowing the ice bridge down to a 6 km strip. At the end of May 2008 an area of about 160 km² broke off, reducing the ice bridge to just 2.7 km. Between 30 May and 9 July 2008, the ice shelf experienced further disintegration and lost about 1 350 km².

 

The Wilkins Ice Shelf, a broad plate of floating ice south of South America on the Antarctic Peninsula, had been stable for most of the last century before it began retreating in the 1990s. The peninsula has been experiencing extraordinary warming in the past 50 years of 2.5°C.

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/...shelf.collapse/

 

Scientists say the western Antarctic peninsula -- the piece of the continent that stretches toward South America -- has warmed more than any other place on Earth over the past 50 years, rising by 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit each decade.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Skim ice here on the lake and river for one of the earliest I can remember in almost 20 years.

 

You know that SUMMER is approaching in the southern hemi?

[swede316]

The Earth has cooled and heated up again ever since the dinosaurs. Climate change has been happening long before humans have appeared and I'm sure will continue long after we are all gone. It's not man's fault..It's a cyclical Earth event.

[DC Tom]

Skim ice here on the lake and river for one of the earliest I can remember in almost 20 years.

 

You know that SUMMER is approaching in the southern hemi?

 

Not his point.

 

I think his point is that he can mindlessly quote with the best of 'em.

[elegantelliotoffen]

Not his point.

 

I think his point is that he can mindlessly quote with the best of 'em.

 

Looks like Talking Point Tom won't have a rebuttal until about 12:30 PM Monday once Limbaugh tells him what to think.

[Wacka]

It's almost summer there, It's going to get warmer.

The sheet is in one of the most northern portions of the continent, thence it will be warmer.

There is an active volcano under the ice sheet nearby that lubricates the ice flowing to the sea and is probably warming the water there.

[elegantelliotoffen]

It's almost summer there, It's going to get warmer.

The sheet is in one of the most northern portions of the continent, thence it will be warmer.

There is an active volcano under the ice sheet nearby that lubricates the ice flowing to the sea and is probably warming the water there.

 

A 50 year summer?

 

The ice shelf had been stable for most of the past century before it began retreating in the 1990s.

 

Several ice shelves -- Prince Gustav Channel, Larsen Inlet, Larsen A, Larsen B, Wordie, Muller and Jones -- have collapsed in the past three decades, the British Antarctic Survey said.

 

Scientists say the western Antarctic peninsula -- the piece of the continent that stretches toward South America -- has warmed more than any other place on Earth over the past 50 years, rising by 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit each decade.

[finknottle]

The Earth has cooled and heated up again ever since the dinosaurs. Climate change has been happening long before humans have appeared and I'm sure will continue long after we are all gone. It's not man's fault..It's a cyclical Earth event.

 

Trees have grown and died ever since the dinosaurs. Trees have been falling down long before humans appeared and I'm sure will continue long after we are all gone. It's not man's fault...It's a cyclical Earth event.

 

Ergo - logging doesn't exist.

[elegantelliotoffen]

Trees have grown and died ever since the dinosaurs. Trees have been falling down long before humans appeared and I'm sure will continue long after we are all gone. It's not man's fault...It's a cyclical Earth event.

 

Ergo - logging doesn't exist.

 

Worst strawman ever!

[Wacka]

And the South pole itself is cooling. Did you know that Antarctica has several active volcanoes and was once a jungle? Of course ice will break off as new ice is sliding down to the ocean. So it warmed from -100 to-95. Couldn't the volcano cause the warming?

[drnykterstein]

The Earth has cooled and heated up again ever since the dinosaurs.

 

And that was 6,000 year ago, of course.

 

Anyways, like I've said before.. if you in all of your infinite wisdom can get the IPCC or any major scientific body to change their mind on this issue, I'll change sides without a fight. All scientific consensus panels says that it is likely that man is highly influencing global warming. What part of "all" do you not understand?

[justnzane]

And that was 6,000 year ago, of course.

 

Anyways, like I've said before.. if you in all of your infinite wisdom can get the IPCC or any major scientific body to change their mind on this issue, I'll change sides without a fight. All scientific consensus panels says that is likely that man is highly influencing global warming. What part of "all" do you not understand?

 

They'll keep blindly putting their faith into a flying spaghetti monster. Meanwhile, rational minded people will realize that religion can't solve this problem. That is a big reason why we have been needing to put our resources into alternative fuels over the past two decades.

[BillsWatch]

And the South pole itself is cooling. Did you know that Antarctica has several active volcanoes and was once a jungle? Of course ice will break off as new ice is sliding down to the ocean. So it warmed from -100 to-95. Couldn't the volcano cause the warming?

 

Sure Antarctica used to be a "jungle" - it was in the tropics before Continental Drift hundreds of million years ago. Nothing to do with warming or cooling but thank you for being a losing contestant in "As smart as a 5th grade" game show. Your prize is a "Watch FOX News at Home" game.

[/dev/null]

You know that SUMMER is approaching in the southern hemi?

 

Blasphemy. Next thing you know you'll be claiming water can go down the drain the opposite direction

[Gene Frenkle]

And that was 6,000 year ago, of course.

 

Anyways, like I've said before.. if you in all of your infinite wisdom can get the IPCC or any major scientific body to change their mind on this issue, I'll change sides without a fight. All scientific consensus panels says that is likely that man is highly influencing global warming. What part of "all" do you not understand?

There's no substitute for crappy pop science and "it doesn't make sense to me so it can't be true" when talking to someone with a preferred notion they are trying like hell to support over and over again. OF COURSE they know more about the intricacies of this than all of those so-called liberal "climate scientists".

 

I love the "Earth goes in cycles argument". It's just like answering every undesirable scientific fact with "God did it". You can't really say anything about it because, well, the Earth has had warming and cooling cycles.

 

What deniers can't explain is what exactly is causing the Earth's current trend towards a warming cycle now. While science has explained many of the warming and cooling cycles in the Earth's past, there are no factors (other than man) that explain what has been happening over the past 30 years or so. Past factors include solar variations, volcanoes and Milankovitch cycles (changes in the Earth's orbit). None of these things are in play now. What they willfully ignore is that CO2, a greenhouse gas, is 35% more prevalent in the atmosphere than it was 30 years ago.

 

Greenhouse gasses cause more heat from the sun to be retained. More retained heat causes higher temperatures over time. Higher temperatures cause the freaking glaciers to melt, the seas to rise, the oceans to desalinate and the Earth to warm. There is an increase in CO2 that is indisputable. We are causing it and your denial does not make it otherwise.

 

But as always, whatever makes you feel better...

[/dev/null]

While science has explained many of the warming and cooling cycles in the Earth's past, there are no factors (other than man) that explain what has been happening over the past 30 years or so. Past factors include solar variations, volcanoes and Milankovitch cycles (changes in the Earth's orbit). None of these things are in play now.

 

This chart shows an increase over the last 30 years or so and numbers are way up since 1950. Got to be our fault

 

http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Image...pot_Numbers_png

[drnykterstein]

This chart shows an increase over the last 30 years or so and numbers are way up since 1950. Got to be our fault

 

http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Image...pot_Numbers_png

 

Man the numbers of everything goes up.

http://www.venganza.org/piratesarecool4.gif

 

I dunno what this means but I believe, there are zero sunspots at the moment.

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/02/142218

[/dev/null]

Man the numbers of everything goes up.

http://www.venganza.org/piratesarecool4.gif

 

 

I dunno what this means but I believe, there are zero sunspots at the moment.

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/02/142218

 

Depends on the definition of "sunspot"

[Wacka]

And that was 6,000 year ago, of course.

 

Anyways, like I've said before.. if you in all of your infinite wisdom can get the IPCC or any major scientific body to change their mind on this issue, I'll change sides without a fight. All scientific consensus panels says that it is likely that man is highly influencing global warming. What part of "all" do you not understand?

 

Consensus does not = proven science

 

Show me actual scientific experiments that can prove that we are causing it and I will believe it.

 

The earth has actually cooled the last 8 or nine years.

 

Recently they said that October was the warmest on record. Seems like they actually used the September data twice!

[DC Tom]

There's no substitute for crappy pop science and "it doesn't make sense to me so it can't be true" when talking to someone with a preferred notion they are trying like hell to support over and over again. OF COURSE they know more about the intricacies of this than all of those so-called liberal "climate scientists".

 

I love the "Earth goes in cycles argument". It's just like answering every undesirable scientific fact with "God did it". You can't really say anything about it because, well, the Earth has had warming and cooling cycles.

 

What deniers can't explain is what exactly is causing the Earth's current trend towards a warming cycle now. While science has explained many of the warming and cooling cycles in the Earth's past, there are no factors (other than man) that explain what has been happening over the past 30 years or so. Past factors include solar variations, volcanoes and Milankovitch cycles (changes in the Earth's orbit). None of these things are in play now. What they willfully ignore is that CO2, a greenhouse gas, is 35% more prevalent in the atmosphere than it was 30 years ago.

 

Greenhouse gasses cause more heat from the sun to be retained. More retained heat causes higher temperatures over time. Higher temperatures cause the freaking glaciers to melt, the seas to rise, the oceans to desalinate and the Earth to warm. There is an increase in CO2 that is indisputable. We are causing it and your denial does not make it otherwise.

 

But as always, whatever makes you feel better...

 

It's 10% over the past 30 years, actually. 30% over the past 250.

 

And solar variations have been measured in the past hundred or so years (this year was actually pretty low, which is probably why it was cooler than usual.)

 

And in discussing the planet's current warming trend, it's usually ignored that those measurements (from 1700 onward) are compared to an abnormal cooling trend (from about 1200 to 1600).

 

And paleoclimatological studies show that the current warming isn't even unprecedented...in fact, going back about a million years, periodic warming such as this is pretty common and regular.

 

And CO2 is a minor (not insignificant, mind you...but minor) contributor to greenhouse warming anyway.

 

 

 

I mean, if you're going to discuss facts, you may as well have some. Right?