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Giant Ice Shelf Snaps

Posted by Zonk on from the as-long-as-the-movie-doesn't-feature-sandra-bullock dept.

Popo writes "Sattelite images have revealed that an ancient 66 square-kilometer ice shelf, the size of 11,000 football fields, has snapped off from an island in Canada's arctic. The Ayles Ice Shelf was one of 6 major shelves remaining in Canada's arctic and is estimated to be over 3000 years old. The collapse was so powerful that earthquake monitors 250 km away picked up tremors. Scientists say it is the largest event of its kind in 30 years and point their fingers at climate change as a major contributing factor."

4 of 529 comments (clear)

  1. Collossal by SnarfQuest · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    And it only took a year and a half for anyone to notice. It must have been quite amazing. No wonder Florida has disappeared under the waters.

    --
    Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
  2. Military question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    During the second world war, tens of thousands of airplanes were produced by both sides. Impressive considering the manufacturing abilities of the time, which were not necessarily bad, but nothing like today.

    Now, we see conflicts in Somalia, Sudan and even Afghanistan. A lot of times, there is little or no air support. Even when modern countries like the UK and Canada are involved.

    Would it be impracticale for countries like Ethiopia to deploy dozens or perhaps a hundred WW2 style bombers instead of 2 old MIGs against the Islamic Courts?

    Couldn't the UK bomb taliban positions with a dozen or two lancasters with modern equipment?

    1. Re:Military question by dhasenan · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      This is off-topic, but it's interesting.

      Two old MiGs against a dozen Corsairs--who do you think would win?

      But since MiGs go for millions each, even older ones, and a Corsair would cost maybe a hundred thousand, you can afford a dozen WW2 planes for each enemy MiG. And it's simpler to maintain a Corsair than a MiG. You do need more pilots, but since each plane costs less, your pilots can train more.

      I suppose it's simply a governmental / military desire to have the biggest and the best, even if that means you have less of it. Illogical, but no less true.

  3. Re:Non Global-Warming Activity by Pollardito · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    Seriously, is there anything happening in the arctic or antarctic regions that IS NOT the [result] of Global Warming?
    well, the tripling of the manatee population in the last 6 months is probably due more to Conan getting them revved up with spicy hornymanatee.com pictures than global warming. come to think of it a sufficiently large population of horny manatees could cause the ocean to rise in temperature this much by itself