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POPSAntarctica is breaking up, in a troubling sign of global warming
'The latest images, taken by Envisat's radar, say fractures have now opened up in this bridge and adjacent areas of the plate are disintegrating, creating large icebergs. The Antarctic peninsula -- the tongue of land that juts northward from the white continent towards South America -- has had one of the highest rates of warming anywhere in the world in recent decades. But this latest stage of the breakup occurred during the Southern Hemisphere's winter, when atmospheric temperatures are at their lowest. One idea is that warmer water from the Southern Ocean is reaching the underside of the ice shelf and thinning it rapidly from underneath. "Wilkins Ice Shelf is the most recent in a long, and growing, list of ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula that are responding to the rapid warming that has occurred in this area over the last fifty years," researcher David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) said. "Current events are showing that we were being too conservati
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POPSClimate change in our world Of the challenges surrounding global climate change, communicating its potential impact and increasing public awareness of the scientific research undertaken to monitor and model its effect on society are quite pressing.
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POPSWeather Or Not, We're Still Doomed.....Whatever James Overland of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration claims that an ozone hole over the Antarctic is masking conditions there, keeping temperatures low. Later the ozone hole will close up, so we're still doomed. Gareth Marshall of the British Antarctic Survey floats this one: climate change causes Antarctic winds to blow harder, trapping colder air. But this will decrease at an undisclosed future date, so we're still doomed. Gabbles Marshall: The tea leaves point to a minimal amount of sea ice next September, that would be the same as we had last summer, 40 percent loss compared to 20 years ago. At least tea leaves are an improvement over the phony computer models they've been using to find their predetermined results. On a tip from hiram13pm. Posted by Van Helsing
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POPSAntarctic glaciers surge toward ocean Much higher up the course of the glacier there is evidence of a volcano that erupted through the ice about 2,000 years ago and the whole region could be volcanically active, releasing geothermal heat to melt the base of the ice and help its slide towards the sea.
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POPSMassive volcano exploded under Antarctic icesheet
Evidence for this comes from a British-American airborne geophysical survey in 2004-5 that used radar to delve deep under the ice sheet to map the terrain beneath. Vaughan's team spotted anomalous radar reflections over 23,000 square kilometres (8,900 sq. miles), an area bigger than Wales. They interpret this signal as being a thick layer of ash, rock and glass, formed from fused silica, that the volcano spewed out in its fury. The amount of material -- 0.31 cubic kilometres (0.07 cubic miles) -- indicates an eruption of between three and four on a yardstick called the Volcanic Explosive Index (VEI). By comparison, the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, which was greater, rates a VEI of five, and that of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 is a VEI of six. "We believe this was the biggest eruption in Antarctica during the last 10,000 years," BAS' Hugh Corr says. "It blew a substantial hole in the icesheet and generated a plume of ash and gas that rose around 12 kms (eight miles
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POPS'Cataclysmic' Explosion rocked Antarctica 2000 years ago. Most of Antarctica is seismically stable, but the western part lies in a rift in the Earth's crust. This is the first evidence of an Eruption under the ice sheet itself. A volcanic eruption is bound to be bad for the ice sheet. The Eruption rated 3-4 on the Volcanic Explosive Index (V.E.I.) The eruption of Mt St Helens had a rating of 5 The Mt Pinatubo Eruption in 1991 had a rating of 6
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POPSSwings and Checks in Nature How come scaremongering TV journalists do not publicise a significant increase in the ice cap as readily as they do with melting icebergs and glaciers? Maybe it does not scare people as much and will not sell so well. Cynical? Me? Nah!
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POPSFemale Seals Know What They Want In A Mate Wow... Is interesting to note that while males prefer to stay put and wait to be chosen, females are more selective and prepared to travel to find an ideal, genetically diverse partner to father their pups...
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POPSDeep ice tells long climate story "Ice cores reveal the Earth's natural climate rhythm over the last 800,000 years. When carbon dioxide changed there was always an accompanying climate change. Over the last 200 years human activity has increased carbon dioxide to well outside the natural range," explained Dr Wolff.
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