Antarctic glaciers surge to ocean

Antarctic glaciers surge to ocean

news.bbc.co.uk

UK scientists working in Antarctica have found some of the clearest evidence yet of instabilities in the ice of part of West Antarctica.
If the trend continues, they say, it could lead to a significant rise in global sea level.

The new evidence comes from a group of glaciers covering an area the size of Texas, in a remote and seldom visited part of West Antarctica.

The "rivers of ice" have surged sharply in speed towards the ocean.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Not to much of surprise to most of us I think. The mass scale of this piece of information I do think is good to note. This also talks about a part of Antarctica that has very large glaciers, and this dumping a lot of ice in the ocean.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

I found this related thread
www.abovetopsecret.com...
It might be worth looking at if you are interested.

When I read this, it made me wonder why it was happening. I couldn't tell if it was a global warming report, or one of the reports of the growing glaciers. The article clears it up a little bit though.

The reason does not seem to be warming in the surrounding air.

One possible culprit could be a deep ocean current that is channelled onto the continental shelf close to the mouth of the glacier. There is not much sea ice to protect it from the warm water, which seems to be undercutting the ice and lubricating its flow.

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.

reply to post by Karlhungis


That is a good point to note in the story, thanks for posting it.
It also seems some what troubling that there is no sea ice to protect the glaciers.

reply to post by RedGolem


Well, now you have me confused. What do we do about this thread here?

Global Warming? New Data Shows Ice Is Back

I'm truly beginning to wonder whom I should trust here.. Aren't you?

TheBorg

[Edited to fix "my" to "me".]

[edit on 24-2-2008 by TheBorg]

reply to post by TheBorg


Borg
Thanks for posting. And to answer your question, I think we should find all the information we can, and see what it tells us. The ice might be back in some places, and shrinking in others. Some years there might be build up, others decline. Over long periods of time a trend will be seen.

reply to post by RedGolem


So the earth is changing, Big deal. It is always changing. The ice has been melting since the ice age and it don't take a scientist to make that clear to me. The earths weather is directly effected by space weather IE solar storms and gravitational effects of the other planets or our moon as was shown when we had big quakes at the time of the lunar eclipse. We have to adapt to it changing because despite what the idiot Al Gore says it can not be stopped or slowed down.

Earthquakes caused by a Lunar eclipse? Are you sure it isn't six more weeks of winter? I always thought it was six more weeks of winter if the moon saw it's own shadow.

What's the plan, burn more oil and sacrifice some virgins?

reply to post by RedGolem

UK scientists working in Antarctica have found some of the clearest evidence yet of instabilities in the ice of part of West Antarctica.

Hi Red,

Good post!

So they have found that the western glacier the size of Texas is flowing faster than expected and it is due to either wind currents or underlying vulcanic warming. And this could be causing more glacial discharge into the seas and sealevel increase.

My biggest question is are the feeding glaciers thinning or is this a sign that they are getting larger and thicker. Apparently they haven't done that part of the study yet. If they are getting thicker the implication might be global cooling and if thinning then global warming.

The study says the ocean discharge may be raising ocean levels but that isn't necessarily true because the source of the glacial ice is snowfall stemming originally from ocean evaporation.

reply to post by plumranch


Thanks Plumarch
As to the ice getting thinner or thicker. The would depend on the amount of snow fall. I would think that information is available if the glaciers in that are have been studied but I did not recall seeing it listed.

Response to post by Redgolem:

Is the West Antarctic ice sheet thickening? In 2002 there were several reports on studies saying it is thickening. However in this 2006 study it says the West Antarctic sheets are now thinning and the East sheets are getting thicker. It would be nice to have a little more areement between studies!
Antarctic Ice Sheet (and the Plot) Thickens

reply to post by plumranch


Hopefully there will be enough information from the studies that they can all reach an agreement. Also the more information you get the better. Even if it contradicts other information it is still something new that you did not have before.

Hmmm. I was just looking at a map. You know I kind of like the idea of California with a large inland sea instead of the Central Valley, or whatever they call it.

reply to post by centurion1211


Centurion,
Are you saying the large inland sea would come from melting glaciers? Or from rising oceans?

reply to post by RedGolem


I don't like the implications of an inland sea in California and I imagine a lot of Californians feel the same way!

And if my own personal theory about the "function of Antarctica in global climate change" is correct it won't. Antarctica is a very stable land mass that goes up many thousands of feet in altitude. It probably acts as a climate stabilizer to the extent that as earth average temperatures rise along with ocean temperatures there is more evaporation, increased humidity, etc. Antarctica being always extremely cold condenses the water vapor to snow, snow builds up and accumulates to tremendous depths. In earth warming other areas with glaciers like Alaska, Canada, and Greenland will loose glaceal mass to the oceans however Antarctica will accumulate mass thus dampening the effects and preventing excessive ocean rise.

Just a theory but the proof will be thickening Antarctic glaciers that parallel significant global temperature increase. We haven't seen either to a significant degree IMHO.

Thank you for bringing this thread forward however it really bums me out. I feel so concerned for the wildlife. While watching March of the Penguins, it occurred to me that we as a species are so very vein to think that advanced life forms must have an interest in us. Why would they when there is such a wealth of natural growing species here that far surpass our ability to be the most important or interesting of species that inhabit this planet. If you have the chance to observe the magnificence of nature or the confusion of the human race which would you choose?

Originally posted by plumranch
In earth warming other areas with glaciers like Alaska, Canada, and Greenland will loose glaceal mass to the oceans however Antarctica will accumulate mass thus dampening the effects and preventing excessive ocean rise.

I have heard similar theory's. I would like to think that is what is happening. It is a somewhat happier view of the future of the earth. I tend more to think the human race is causing to much change to the environment for that to really work at this time.

I tend more to think the human race is causing to much change to the environment for that to really work at this time.

reply to post by RedGolem


I agree entirely with the too much environmental damage as in the 3rd world countries as Haiti, Madigasgar, and most of the African and South American countries. 1st world countries as well. I'm just supposing and hoping that this basic natural world climate mechanism is indeed in place and working to avoid disasters like the previous poster imagined for CA!

reply to post by RedGolem


Melting glaciers (that were not already floating on the sea) would be the cause of the higher sea levels that would eventually flood CA's central valley. Many may not know this, but Sacramento, CA in the middle of the valley is only at 30ft (~10m) above sea level.



[edit on 3/2/2008 by centurion1211]