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Because most of us are very in tune with the environment around us. I thought this might be a good place to post news of interest, in the green.
Whether (weather 😀 ) it’s good news or bad, or even someone that deserves some recognition, as long as it’s green news or environmental, post it here.
WASHINGTON(AP) A chunk of Antarctic ice about seven times the size of Manhattan suddenly collapsed, putting an even greater portion of glacial ice at risk, scientists said Tuesday.
Satellite images show the runaway disintegration of a 160-square-mile chunk in western Antarctica, which started Feb. 28. It was the edge of the Wilkins ice shelf and has been there for hundreds, maybe 1,500 years.
This is the result of global warming, said British Antarctic Survey scientist David Vaughan.
Because scientists noticed satellite images within hours, they diverted satellite cameras and even flew an airplane over the ongoing collapse for rare pictures and video.
“It’s an event we don’t get to see very often,” said Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo. “The cracks fill with water and slice off and topple… That gets to be a runaway situation.”
While icebergs naturally break away from the mainland, collapses like this are unusual but are happening more frequently in recent decades, Vaughan said. The collapse is similar to what happens to hardened glass when it is smashed with a hammer, he said.
The rest of the Wilkins ice shelf, which is about the size of Connecticut, is holding on by a narrow beam of thin ice. Scientists worry that it too may collapse. Larger, more dramatic ice collapses occurred in 2002 and 1995.
Vaughan had predicted the Wilkins shelf would collapse about 15 years from now. The part that recently gave way makes up about 4 percent of the overall shelf, but it’s an important part that can trigger further collapse.
There’s still a chance the rest of the ice shelf will survive until next year because this is the end of the Antarctic summer and colder weather is setting in, Vaughan said.
Scientists said they are not concerned about a rise in sea level from the latest event, but say it’s a sign of worsening global warming.
Such occurrences are “more indicative of a tipping point or trigger in the climate system,” said Sarah Das, a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
“These are things that are not re-forming,” Das said. “So once they’re gone, they’re gone.”
Climate in Antarctica is complicated and more isolated from the rest of the world.
Much of the continent is not warming and some parts are even cooling, Vaughan said. However, the western peninsula, which includes the Wilkins ice shelf, juts out into the ocean and is warming. This is the part of the continent where scientists are most concern about ice-melt triggering sea level rise.
i respectfully disagree with the theory of global warming……..with many things blaming gw for the current state of condition or being. there are too many inconsistencies in this logic. for every “undisputable fact” claiming gw, another anit-“uf” is cited as a counterpoint. gw, in my honest opinion is at best- at best
mythology. beowulf, poseidon, icarus, paul bunyan, hodag, pecos bill, minotaur, etc. etc. are some other examples i’d like to point to……some people create stories, no matter how tall, to explain the unexplainable.
now don’t get me wrong, i’m not anti-environment, and i am all for cleaning up the planet, i just think that gw is also used to scare the public into conformity. like driving priuses, like paying “sin” taxes for carbon credits, like government telling us what we can and can’t eat, can and can’t drive, can and can’t do, where we can and can’t go, and on and on. the regulation of our liberties could have far reaching unintended consequences………but hey, some folks are all for it. not this fella.
like i said before, i don’t “believe” in gw. i’m a gw athiest.
btw…..i really like your caches, and can’t wait to come east and tackle some more.I like how the scientist jumped in his plane to take film footage. Why didn’t he walk there?
I tend to agree quite a bit with redrusty. Now don’t get me wrong. I am not a scientist. I love science.
I have no doubt that we contribute to global warming. I will say that again. Contribute. The latest ice age ended relatively a short time ago. How do these scientists know that we are not just warming up yet? Ice ages do have warm periods, when glaciers retreat before advancing again.
What about carbon dioxide? Plants breath it in and breath out oxygen. Is that not helping cleanse our atmosphere? And as far as the depleting ozone layer goes. How much of it is actually destroyed by volcanoes erupting? Look how big Pinatubo was. Or even Kilahwea which has been erupting for over twenty years now.
Anyway, I too am always willing to do my part to green up. There is a lot more that I would like to do, but is just too damn expensive. I realize this post is not meant for debate, so I apologize.
Is there a link somewhere to be able to view the pics? I would love to see the video, but with dial up, it’s out of the question.
to kbrabrand:
i like the first paragraph of the article………the part that states that “Using their strongest language to date, the world’s leading climate scientists are reporting today that they are basically certain that burning gasoline, coal and other fossil fuels has unnaturally heated the atmosphere — and the effects are likely to last for centuries”basically certain?
how about not sure? to me, just another silly example of uncertainty.to stokstad:
this was equally as humorous……i’ve seen write-ups about such things as “booming banana harvest due to global warming” to “global warming blamed for reduced banana harvest”.
cleaner skies? to blame? MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAi couldn’t wait for success, so i went ahead without it
–johnathan winters@furfool wrote:
How do these scientists know that we are not just warming up yet?
Because scientists analyze the gases trapped in arctic ice to determine what temperature the earth was at a given time. They compare that to the amount of CO² in the same samples taken. The measurement is precise enough that they can look at the CO² levels and accurately predict the temp and also do the reverse with complete accuracy. CO² levels directly effect planet temps. The earth CO² levels are higher now than in any sampsles taken from the ice. The earth is a greenhouse, granted a big one, but it will heat up just like a greenhouse does. It will just take longer.
@furfool wrote:
What about carbon dioxide? Plants breath it in and breath out oxygen. Is that not helping cleanse our atmosphere?
Yes, it is, or was. It’s too bad we as a people cut down 60,000 square kilometers (about the size of Ireland) of tropical rain forest every year that are not replanted. This does not include farmed trees, or trees cut anywhere else. In total, we cut down and do not replace 115,000 square kilometers of trees per year. So, yes, the planets lungs are shrinking.
just a question- the rainforests, for example, are being replaced by cropland
not? additionally, if said rainforest is replaced by cropland, then aren’t those crops taking in CO2?Just to throw a wrinkle in, a good percentage of climatologists scoff at the idea of gas content in antarctic ice being the root cause of temperature increases and decreases because there is no evidence of directional causality from CO2 to temperature. There is merely an observational confluence of the two phenomena. It could just as easily be that it is the warmer temperatures causing the increase in CO2.
@redrusty wrote:
just a question- the rainforests, for example, are being replaced by cropland
not? additionally, if said rainforest is replaced by cropland, then aren’t those crops taking in CO2?Yes, the grasses and cropland taking the place of the trees produce roughly 2.5%-12% (dependant on crop) of the O² the trees did.
@Ry and Ny wrote:
Just to throw a wrinkle in, a good percentage of climatologists scoff at the idea of gas content in antarctic ice being the root cause of temperature increases and decreases because there is no evidence of directional causality from CO2 to temperature. There is merely an observational confluence of the two phenomena. It could just as easily be that it is the warmer temperatures causing the increase in CO2.
Ah, right. As I scientist I can see that makes sense. I’ll try an experiment this afternoon and see if heating atmospheric gases produces CO². 😯
The current acceptance of climate change by climate scientists is 98%. Only 2% are still debating this. Is the earth still flat? 2% of our population believe that as well. 😯
Please cite a source that’s not an activist site to demonstrate that 98% of climatologists believe in anthropogenic global warming.
Heating air causes *small* increases in the levels of CO2, virtually immeasurable. CO2 is mostly formed by combustion and concentration of CO2 is far more a measure of the levels of combustion (forest fires, volcanoes, and yes, today, industry) than it is an accurate predictor of temperature.
no, the earth is not flat……..i’ve seen pictures of it. i also have a globe. it’s not flat either……
so far this is a good debate…..i’ll not insult you at all tyedyeskyguy…..but “The current acceptance of climate change by climate scientists is 98%. Only 2% are still debating this. Is the earth still flat? 2% of our population believe that as well. ” thing is just a standard rebuttal by the gw crowd…..people that don’t believe in gw don’t think the world is flat…….the founder of the weather channel doesn’t believe in gw either
i’m guessing the 2% of the people you state that believe the world is flat are possibly remote tribes in undeveloped countries….there are just too many inconsistencies in the gw theory. too many things are blamed on global warming.
question authority, but raise your hand first
–bill cosby
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