Ice shelf collapse!

[Tobra]

Incredibly sizable ice cube, well, more an irregular polygon I guess
if you want to click over, there is a pretty cool photo
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/03/25/antarctic.ice/index.html
or just read it
(CNN) -- Some 220 square miles of ice has collapsed in Antarctica and an ice shelf about the size of Connecticut is "hanging by a thread," the British Antarctic Survey said Tuesday, blaming global warming.


Scientists say the size of the threatened shelf is about 5,571 square miles.

1 of 2 "We are in for a lot more events like this," said professor Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Scambos alerted the British Antarctic Survey after he noticed part of the Wilkins ice shelf disintegrating on February 28, when he was looking at NASA satellite images.

Late February marks the end of summer at the South Pole and is the time when such events are most likely, he said. Watch aerial footage of the area »

"The amazing thing was, we saw it within hours of it beginning, in between the morning and the afternoon pictures of that day," Scambos said of the large chunk that broke away on February 28.

The Wilkins ice shelf lost about 6 percent of its surface a decade ago, the British Antarctic Survey said in a statement on its Web site

Another 220 square miles -- including the chunk that Scambos spotted -- had splintered from the ice shelf as of March 8, the group said.

Don't Miss
Planet in peril
Giant sea creatures found in Antarctic search
U.N.: Glaciers shrinking at record rate
"As of mid-March, only a narrow strip of shelf ice was protecting several thousand kilometers of potential further breakup," the group said.

Scambos' center put the size of the threatened shelf at about 5,282 square miles, comparable to the state of Connecticut, or about half the area of Scotland.

Once Scambos called the British Antarctic Survey, the group sent an aircraft on a reconnaissance mission to examine the extent of the breakout.

"We flew along the main crack and observed the sheer scale of movement from the breakage," said Jim Eliott, according to the group's Web site.

"Big hefty chunks of ice, the size of small houses, look as though they've been thrown around like rubble -- it's like an explosion," he said.

"Wilkins is the largest ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula yet to be threatened," David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey said, according to the Web site.

"I didn't expect to see things happen this quickly. The ice shelf is hanging by a thread -- we'll know in the next few days or weeks what its fate will be."

Ice shelves are floating ice sheets attached to the coast. Because they are already floating, their collapse does not have any effect on sea levels, according to the Cambridge-based British Antarctic Survey.

Scambos said the ice shelf is not currently on the path of the increasingly popular tourist ships that travel from South America to Antarctica. But some plants and animals may have to adapt to the collapse.

"Wildlife will be impacted, but they are pretty adept at dealing with a topsy-turvy world," he said. "The ecosystem is pretty resilient."

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.

Larsen B, a 1,254-square-mile ice shelf, comparable in size to the U.S. state of Rhode Island, collapsed in 2002, the group 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.

Scambos said the poles will be the leading edge of what's happening in the rest of the world as global warming continues.

"Even though they seem far away, changes in the polar regions could have an impact on both hemispheres, with sea level rise and changes in climate patterns," he said.

News of the Wilkins ice shelf's impending break-up came less than two weeks after the United Nation's Environment Program reported that the world's glaciers are melting away and that they show "record" losses.


"Data from close to 30 reference glaciers in nine mountain ranges indicate that between the years 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 the average rate of melting and thinning more than doubled," the UNEP said on March 16.

The most severe glacial shrinking occurred in Europe, with Norway's Breidalblikkbrea glacier, the UNEP said. That glacier thinned by about 10 feet in 2006, compared with less than a foot the year before, it said. E-mail to a friend

CNN's Marsha Walton contributed to this report.

[dd74]

Of course global warming is a known fallacy?

[trekkor]

Duct tape it...


KT

[Hugh R]

Cool, I'm going to buy some future beach front property in Ventura about a mile inland.

[pwd72s]

This, personally, you can do zilch about. How about being more concerned about your wife's migraines?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Tsunami possibility?

[island911]

wait wait. ... let me see if I have this right. The antartic has been melting thru the summer? Really?!?! ...220 square miles of 5,405,430 sq mi of ice may break free. . . .and you say that summer has just ended there. Really?!?!

[strupgolf]

So let me get this straight, a decade ago, this area lost 6% of it's ice shelf due to the same kind of event as of Feb. 28. Well in 1998, I did'nt see any problems anywhere from this BIG event, nobody drowned, Miami is still there, NY is still there and no species lost their lives. But then, 10 years ago we did'nt have Al Gore to tell us all of this and get more of our money to help save his planet.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by dd74

Of course global warming is a known fallacy?

no, but the sun probably has more to do with it than that Diesel guy, or Henry Ford or any other person or group of people you care to suggest

Originally Posted by Hugh R

Cool, I'm going to buy some future beach front property in Ventura about a mile inland.

no good, it was floating before it broke off, no net gain in sea level

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Tsunami possibility?

not that I heard, but interesting idea, but it was floating already

wait a minute guys, I am on your team, I just thought it was a cool picture.

[Mule]

Since it's already floating in the water------ you can figure it out I think.

[rammstein]

Global warming is a fact, as measured by actual global temperature averages.

The "man-made" aspect is the part that is conjecture- some believe that it is caused by man, others believe that natural phenomena are to blame.

This is what I think escapes a lot of people- the area of true debate is in the cause.

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by rammstein

The "man-made" aspect is the part that is conjecture- some believe that it is caused by man, others believe that natural phenomena are to blame.

.

Yup. And there are some who don't believe the research that shows that 80 percent of women fake their orgasms about 80 percent of the time.

You just have to get over your preconceptions.

[chapo]

If global warming is increasing at such a great rate, why does it seem like every temp record we break was from the late 1800's or early 1900's. the article states this happens all the time. Ice melts, doesn't it?

[dd74]

John Hoffmeister, president of Shell Oil said on Charlie Rose (3/25) human efforts have undoubtedly exacerbated global warming. Pretty strong words coming from a higher-up in a major energy company.

[turbo6bar]

Originally Posted by dd74

John Hoffmeister, president of Shell Oil said on Charlie Rose (3/25) human efforts have undoubtedly exacerbated global warming. Pretty strong words coming from a higher-up in a major energy company.

That's obvious. Now we just need all humans to stop using air conditioners and internal combustion engines, destroy pesky methane-producing cattle, and discontinue the use of fire to cook food. Then, we will will eliminate our effect to global warming. Al Gore would want it that way.

[masraum]

that'd make a lotta ice cubes.

[The Gaijin]

Originally Posted by dd74

John Hoffmeister, president of Shell Oil said on Charlie Rose (3/25) human efforts have undoubtedly exacerbated global warming. Pretty strong words coming from a higher-up in a major energy company.

As this is accepted as gospel truth in many places (like the home of Shell Oil) - he pretty much has too. It is pure PR and who knows what he really thinks.

[kach22i]

Nothing to see here, please move along.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Once again, the problem is multiplier effect. Too much pollution per individual, times 6,000,000,000. Per day. Every day.

Overpopulation once again.

[URY914]

Bush is to blame.