Slashdot Mirror


Ward Hunt Ice Shelf Breaks In Two

heidi writes "CNN has this story on the breakup of the largest ice cap. A permanent feature for the previous 3,000 years, it has broken into two pieces. "The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, on the north coast of Ellesmere Island in Canada's Nunavut territory, broke into two main parts, themselves cut through with fissures. A freshwater lake drained into the sea, the researchers reported.""

5 of 785 comments (clear)

  1. Global Warming & The One World Government by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It is probably a good time to post this:

    Bush covers up climate research (again)

  2. The global conveyer by MrLint · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wonder what, if any, effect the draining of the fresh water lake into the sea will have on "the global conveyer. There was some speculation that the melting ice caps will release so much fresh water into the system the salinity and temperature difference that dries this engine will break down, and the CO2 that it deposits in the deep water will also stop. Is anyone an oceanologist?

  3. Now remember kiddies by Gortbusters.org · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The ice is already in the water (ocean), so melting it is not going to increase the sea levels. Remember, water expands when it freezes and it goes back down when you melt it. If you don't believe me, fill a glass full of water and put it in the freezer.

    As the earth is still coming out of its last ice age, we shouldn't be too concerned about global warming. What we should be concerned about is desertification due to the lack of vegitation and depletion of the Ozone. Given the natural course of things, the earth will make big dinosaurs, not silly monkeys who play on computers and bitch at eachother.

    Anyone else up for a nice honda civic hybrid yet? :)

    --
    --------
    Free your mind.
  4. All part of the cycle? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Had we been living 50,000 years ago, I wonder if we would have blamed the melting of the Bering Strait ice bridge on global warming.

  5. Article discussed Global Warming by billstewart · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you RTFA, you'll see them discussing that they don't know whether this is global warming or just regional warming.
    Not mentioned in the article, but relevant, is that in some parts of the Canadian Arctic, I think including this area, the local Inuit had stopped making kayaks for some centuries, and had to relearn in the mid-1800s when the weather got enough warmer that kayaks were useful again. Don't know if that's global warming or just regional either.

    --

    Bill Stewart
    New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks