Greenland Ice Melt: See if this don't scare you!, page 2

Great find, Loam.

To add some credence to what your article is saying... as well as some consideration towards those quakes in the Arctic' here's an interesting story. While I don't know (yet) if they are related to glacial slippage, there are connections being made in this March 2006 article...

www.countercurrents.org...

The rise in the number of glacial earthquakes over the past four years lends further weight to the idea that Greenland's glaciers and its ice sheet are beginning to move and melt on a scale not seen for perhaps thousands of years.

The annual number of glacial earthquakes recorded in Greenland between 1993 and 2002 was between six and 15. In 2003 seismologists recorded 20 glacial earthquakes. In 2004 they monitored 24 and for the first 10 months of 2005 they recorded 32.

The latest seismic study, published today in the journal Science, found that in a single area of north-western Greenland scientists recorded just one quake between 1993 and 1999. But they monitored more than two dozen quakes between 2000 and 2005.

-snip-

"Some of Greenland's glaciers - as large as Manhattan and as tall as the Empire State Building - can move 10 metres in less than a minute, a jolt that is sufficient to generate moderate seismic waves," Professor Ekstrom said.

-snip-

As the glacial meltwater seeps down it lubricates the bases of the "outlet" glaciers of the Greenland ice sheet, causing them to slip down surrounding valleys towards the sea, explained Meredith Nettles of Columbia University.

"Our results suggest that these major outlet glaciers can respond to changes in climate conditions much more quickly than we had thought," Dr Nettles said.

-snip-

The seismologists also found that the glacial earthquakes of Greenland occurred mainly during the summer months, indicating that the movements were indeed associated with rapidly melting ice - normal "tectonic" earthquakes show no such seasonality. Of the 136 glacial quakes analysed by the scientists, more than a third occurred during July and August.

A scary thought.

As the tides, the warming Arctic and the heating of the surface beneath the glaciers all are taken into consideration, it seems (to me) quite possible that a huge amount of glacial ice could suddenly descend into the ocean whether it is near the North or South Poles. Such an event could spell immediate tsunami of gigantic proportions as well as a rising mean sea level.

We need to focus on places like NYC, London, Amsterdam (etc.) and how to lessen the impact of tsunami and rising sea level on such places.
.

[edit on 26-6-2006 by masqua]