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Antarctic Ice Bridge Finally Breaks Off
GreennMann writes "An ice bridge linking a shelf of ice the size of Jamaica to two islands in Antarctica has snapped. Scientists say the collapse could mean the Wilkins Ice Shelf is on the brink of breaking away, and provides further evidence of rapid change in the region. Sited on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Wilkins shelf has been retreating since the 1990s. Researchers regarded the ice bridge as an important barrier, holding the remnant shelf structure in place. Its removal will allow ice to move more freely between Charcot and Latady islands, into the open ocean."
that's certainly one way to break the ice in a tense situation like this.
512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
So what? It hasn't been there forever. See, there's a natural progression on the planet. Warm. Cold. Warm. Cold. It's warming up, BFD.
Now, I'm gunna drive my SUV 65 miles to work tomorrow and feel ok about it.
= Grow a brain...
Given my SUV driving has yet to save me in a crash (I've not had one since buying it)... I'm glad to see it has contributed to something productive at least.
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
s/or/of/
Slashdot, editors, not have.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Once the ice bridge falls away, scientists will find one pissed off ice troll.
"Quick! To the Gore-Mobile!"
Its removal will allow ice to move more freely between Charcot and Latady islands, into the open ocean.
This is cause for alarm if you're concerned about iceberg free shipping lanes, correct?
If you really, really wanted to save the polar ice caps, you'd create a time machine and travel back..say, 19,000 years ago. Back when the polar ice cap extended down into what is modern day Illinois.
,"We've got to save the non-ice cap areas!"
Which predates SUVs and industrialization by around...19,000 years or so.
That is one of the global warming metrics, right? Save the shrinking polar ice cap, right? You'd need to go back to a time when you can't blame humans. Even then, you'd have to go back yet again to the previous ice age, or any of the numerous ice ages.
So...at some point 20,000 to 30,000 years from now, someone's going to say
OMG!!! I'm off to the oceans!!! Otherwise boring day *sight*
Thank god we have the average mook on Slashdot or I might have thought this were cause for concern. I guess all of the scientists who have agreed that there are man-made effects on climate are completely incorrect, but this website is the last bastion of sanity?
How convenient.
So... who's bringing the gin? Vodka is cool, too.
And lemon. Mustn't forget the lemon.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
The last thing we needed was a pinch at the end, then we'll be wiping for the next 100 years.
Task Mangler
Yes, finally ! That ice bridge had it coming, acting so cool when it's just like everyone else.
Stupid ice bridge.
...a few more really big ice cubes floating around should help a great deal.
oh, and as the saying goes "Pictures, or it didn't happen."
The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
Ohhhhhh...... *SNAP!*
-David
Continues ]to l!ose
OMFG, teh end awf da word haz begun. But wait!! Zesus will safe us all, lets all prey.
>...and provides further evidence or rapid change in the region. Not everyone agrees. For another spin on this event take a look at http://icecap.us/images/uploads/Wilkins_Ice_Shelf_con.pdf which suggests that the evidence for rapid climate change in this area is missing and suggests that, at best, hyperbole is involved.
Can someone please convert that into units we can understand, like States of Delaware, or Long Islands.
There could be all sorts of cool stuff waiting to be discovered under the ice down there in Antarctica.. maybe atlantis (unlikely), or the fortress of solitude (slightly more likely), but more than anything it is really the last (mostly) unspoiled wilderness on the planet and it is a very big place!
I for one would quite like to go exploring there if it was just a tad warmer.. ;)
Western side? Didn't you mean Northern side?
First, those damn Persians and their bumb, then Kim Il Jr and his rocket, and now, this. Armageddon is upon us!! FEAR GOD !! The time is FAST APPROACHING !!
Eat at Dina's !! Great food at a great price for the coming Apocalypse !!
http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_01_12_a_suv.html
Having trouble visualising... Seriously guys, we've already established Libraries of Congress as the arbitrary measure of choice, why introduce the size of Jamaica now?
( Redundancy is ) ^ n
that there have been a number of Richter 5 earthquakes in the area in recent years that contributed a lot to the breakup of the ice.
Sure. Let's just let everybody think it's yet another indication of anthropogenic global warming.
Just look up the USGS reports. Of course, so many people just don't want to bother doing that...
the country I live in, the Netherlands, has one fourth of the land below sealevel by as much as 48 feet already. I guess we can handle a few additional feet of water. More water spurs great engineering, and has done so since medieval times. That doesn't mean you can't leave your SUV at home and take your bicycle to work today, though.
From a technical GrandstandErs, the get how people can Paper towels
If it were an oil field, Wall Street, Detroit or Silicone Valley, you could count on something being done about it right away. NSLIG (no such luck, I guess.)
There is nothing to FEAR but NOTHING itself; and I fear there is a whole lot of nothing going on. --scorpivs
The ice shelf is quite north: on the Antarctic Circle. While the days are fast getting shorter, there will be only a few days without a sunrise. However, even then, the noon twilight can be quite bright, especially with all that ice and snow.
That if global warming really will be a very bad thing, then our energy should be spent trying to deal with it when it happens, not prevent it. Why? Well because we are pretty sure that the Earth has been much hotter (and cooler) in the past than it is now. We are about as certain as we can be that there has been a long history of climate fluctuations. Thus it doesn't matter if the current one is natural or man made, because we are going to have to deal with one like it at some point. So that means the real focus should be how to deal with the eventuality, not how to prevent this particular one, if it is in fact preventable.
Unless we can get the ability to control the climate such that fluctuations like that won't happen again (and I seriously doubt that) then preparation is what we need. If we spend a great deal of effort preventing this shift, only to get screwed over by another one, then no good is done. Likewise if it turns out this shift is natural and nothing we can do will prevent it, again no good is done.
Now this all assume you accept the idea that a slightly warmer average temperature will lead to disastrous conditions. However that does seem to be what is claimed in general. Well, if that is in fact what you believe, then you really should be advocating focusing on how to deal with it, not how to prevent it unless you believe you can prevent it when it isn't a human caused phenomena.
It mentions that a lot of the dynamics of this situation are poorly understood. Whether or not you believe in global warming or what you think is causing it we don't know what the results are going to be.
There are so many possibilities with some scientific basis and the whole environment as a system is so complex that we can't predict details. We can paint broad strokes of the future but saying the sea level is going to raise 2.37 feet and believing that the sea will raise exactly 2.37 feet put blinders on you just like believing that a Divine Being created the universe in 6 days.
We have an idea of what MAY happen but there is so much complexity that we don't know what WILL happen. Right now it looks like shit is going to get warmer, ice is going to melt, sea levels will get higher and who knows the Gulf Stream may stop flowing causing Europe to get cold.
Some of you seriously need to stop beating the Global Warming Manifesto like it is a Bible.
I'll meet you at the intersection of "Should be" and "Reality"
Con job and spin are the correct terms for that particular web site.
This is the second time this site has popped up in the last few days. It's run by one J. D'Aleo who is paid to do so by the "Science and Public Policy Institute", they are in turn backed by "Frontiers of Freedom" which is the lobbying brain child of this guy. They have a donate button on their site but their funding is otherwise obscured.
Older readers may recall the "Frontiers of Freedom" also backed the tabacoo industry in their anti-science campaign.
Disclaimer: I don't have anything against lobbyists or politicians until they pretend to be something they are not.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Lowest point in the Netherlands is 6.76m (just over 22 feet) below sea-level, near Nieuwerkerk-aan-de-IJssel.
Has anyone ever considered what would happen to marine life if the icecaps were to melt?
I mean, not only the sea levels will be rising, but the ocean will desalinate which might, or might not, inversely affect things like plankton, which might further disrupt the atmosphere by reducing oxigen release, not to mention the impact on the food chain (this includes us btw)
Do a bit of looking around and you will find more and more geologists are associating some earthquakes with climatic effects - such as weathering of the Himalayas. Did the earthquakes cause the breakup or are they simply associated? (correlation!=causation).
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
Perfect back story for a Cool Runnings 2...?
More ice has melted.
And then...
More ice has melted.
And then...
I think everyone gets it by now. The ice at the poles is melting and there is little anyone can do about it. The Earth's climate changes from time to time. It has changed abruptly in the past (ice cores) and will do so in the future. "Man's" responsibility is and will be debatable. If your climate is riding a razors edge and man pushes the Earth into a warming or cooling cycle is it really man's fault? Man sure does like blaming him/herself for global cycles. I guess because we are _so_ important in the Universe. If Man has thrown the Global Climate cycle out of wack, Earth's history has proven that it will self correct. Now can Man be flexible enough to survive it? That is the better question.
There are no loopholes. It's either legal or it's not.
Finally! Thank god we got rid of that damn bridge!
Wow! April is winter in Antartica? And you got modded informative???
Slashdot moderators seem particularly, well, stupid on this topic today...
P.S. You're right about your ice receding, but that's not because it's getting colder
The subject who is truly loyal to the Chief Magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures (Junius)
gets modded: (Score:5, Insightful)?
Where's the insight? He didn't parse a logical argument; he didn't even attempt to engage in reasonable discourse. He didn't address the many reasons already posted why building ports is a poor solution to the problem he waves away. I would think his post is flamebait at best, and he's Insightful ?
I hope you lose your grasp of science, reason and consequences the same way the parent poster did.
The subject who is truly loyal to the Chief Magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures (Junius)
some one must of used the Antarctic stargate or the weapons platform there.
I'm pretty positive that the reason this ice shelf broke off is that there is an over-abundance of ice and with all that new ice forming, some of it has to go somewhere. Here, do the numbers yourself : http://nsidc.org/cgi-bin/bist/bist.pl?no_panel=1&annot=1&legend=1&scale=75&tab_cols=2&tab_rows=2&config=seaice_index&submit=Refresh&mo0=01&hemis0=S&img0=extn&mo1=01&hemis1=S&img1=conc&year0=2009&year1=1980&.cgifields=no_panel
Sig? No thanks. I don't smoke.
ICEBERG!!!!
I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do.
...in January we landed on it in a helicoptor and stuck a GPS unit into it.
I guess the GPS unit was hammered into the ice :)
Oriental Hero "I want to live in a city where the Police don't shoot you" Jean Charles de Menezes
Could you provide us with falsifiable predictions that global warming theorists have made?
Specifically, predictions which are measurable, have come true, are based on the underlying science, and aren't intuitive.
Something like "given x amount of C02 and y amount of sun activity the global mean temp will be z over this period of time."
I honestly haven't seen that. Until I do, I will continue to remain skeptical about the underlying science. There are way too many variables involved for me to have confidence that the scientific community has reached a definitive and correct answer.
Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
So that means I (or anyone who gets there first) can go there and claim it's the National Republic of Icelanadonia and host porn and copyrighted material?
So this guy lands an aircraft on the ice bridge back in January, and three months later -- Bang! The bridge collapses. I think he owes us a bridge.
I was with you right up to the "...so does it really matter?" There is the crux of the matter, I guess. Does it matter? I am thinking "yes", obviously, not only for what may or may not happen to me after I die (a debatable subject, obviously, to some) but for what my life's effects are to other folks's lives. Positive, hopefully, for a similar reason, actually. Btw, in Southeast Asia in some Buddhist temples, some monks keep pictures of de-composing dead people to help them not get too attached (or to be become less attached, at least) to this life. Web sites, too. Interesting stuff. I could not find a link to any of the pictures, but, a bit ironically, instead discovered a paper on the medieval Japanese art form of painting the "9 stages" of decomposing bodies. (New to me, too. I think I'll go read it now. Later.)
:-)
My mom says I'm cool.
Sorry, meant to add the link to the post above. Medieval Japanese Art of Decomposing Bodies Paintings. A morbid read, indeed.
What about the poor chap Wilkins, never name something that floats away and melts after yourself.
Oh no! Another iceberg source! *YAWN*
Get your Kicks on Route 66
Meanwhile temperatures still are subzero in Edmonton, Alberta, and there is still a foot of snow on the ground. I believe this whole 'global climate change' when I take my parka off.
Are you listening Mr Suzuki?
Hi, I Boris. Hear fix bear, yes?
Historical records for the western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) show that it is particularly prone to rapid climate change--change that occurs in cycles of ~200 years and ~2500 years. By studying major transitions in plankton productivity in the western Antarctic, scientists have shown that "spectacular" ice-cover losses have happened many times in the past. In other words, the "unprecedented rapid loss of ice" from parts of Antarctica that global warming alarmists make so much of are a normal part of nature's cycles. What else would you expect during the peak of an interglacial warming period? This is from a paper titled "Recent Changes in Phytoplankton Communities Associated with Rapid Regional Climate Change Along the Western Antarctic Peninsula," by Martin Montes-Hugo, et al, in Science. For more see http://theresilientearth.com/?q=content/melting-antarctic-ice-part-natural-cycle
Greenpeacers broke off that chunk in order to convince people that their fantasy "globular heating" religion is real. Or maybe it would have broken off anyways but humans aren't responsible--too many polar bears sitting around on an ice shelf for 6000 years are bound to cause some damage eventually. This might happen again if we don't kill all the polar bears. Actually, it's all a liberal pinko lie--you're so gullible, since the ice bridge is just fine, thanks very much. Scientists are out to destroy us all. Haven't you seen them in movies?
"The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place."
you know, there's a crazy theory out there that a huge crust-shift moved atlantis to its current location, the antarctic. This break away of ice could soon reveal that long lost civilization. And then the predators will move in.
Read what I mean, not what I wrote.
I did a quick look at Google maps of the peninsula, on satellite view. It looks to me like the peninsula is at one end of an under-sea mountain range that continues straight up through the South American mountains. Is that area tectonicly active? as in earthquakes or volcanos? Flex the ice tray, the ice breaks. Heat the ice tray, the ice melts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4khXkE5gEI
"Oh look, that was Wilkins of Finance!"
"Robertson"
"Wilkins"
"Robertson!"
"Wilkins!"
"....Oh, that was Wilkins"
"THAT was Wilkins"
Edith Keeler Must Die
Phew, finally! I've been waiting for a long time for this!
Again, it is asserted that the ice sheet has broken free from both islands, when a quick perusal of TFA says that it's only broken loose from one of the two islands, and is still firmly attached to the other.
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
than the one in mn
Aren't they working on a cure for cancer anyway?
I mean, something is going to eventually give me cancer.
So, why quit smoking?
This meme again?
Yes, the Earth's climate changes. No, it has NEVER changed so rapidly. Ice ages happen over tens of thousands of years, anthropogenic climate change is taking place in a couple of hundred. Orders of magnitude, people.
sustainable living
Large by what standard? Projected increase in atmospheric CO2 are on the order of a couple of percent or so. Predictions of the temperature rise are on the order of 4 degrees Kelvin. On the absolute temperature scale, the only one that makes physical sense, that's an increase of maybe 1.5%. That doesn't seem so large compared to the 37% increase in CO2 since the 1700's. The projected increase in sea level is a few feet, also a small percentage of the total ocean depth.
Unfortunately, small percentage changes in the natural world can sometimes have dramatic effects on people. Hardly surprising. After all, if your body temperature rises by 5%, you are pretty sick.
And you say that you are a scientist? In some nonmathematical field, I presume?
In the real world, many things manage to be both effects and causes. Most of us learn this basic fact about nature in childhood, from contemplation of the the famous riddle, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"
Those who understand this riddle don't find anything particularly remarkable about the fact that CO2 can either lead or follow, depending upon circumstances--it is possible for an increase in CO2 to cause an increase in temperature, and it is also possible for an increase in temperature to cause an increase in CO2. In the former case, CO2 leads temperature; in the latter case it follows.
That's like a moron, such as yourself, saying that all brushfires are started by mankind.
The people my actions are going to affect (both in the present and the future generations) will themselves die eventually. The whole universe will inevitably end with either heat death or a Big Crunch, rendering all personal actions futile. So, in a purely materialistic and cosmological point of view, do the effects of my actions really matter? No, it doesn't.
A Buddhist can look at pictures of decomposing remains and conclude that he must not be worldly. Yet he can also (if he chooses to) look a the same pictures and conclude that nothing hinders him from being worldly, for the worldly and the non-worldly alike will end up rotting in the end; one might as well do as he wishes, for everything is an illusion (ah, that inspired Buddhist phrase!).
For the record, I do not subscribe to the cynical philosophy I tried to illustrate in the above paragraphs. But given that we do not live in a perfect Christian society where such a philosophy would not exist, environmentalists will have to look for better arguments than "it's nice to be nice to other people" and "you can't take your SUV with you when you die". Because in a doomed, absurd, or illusory universe of atheists or Buddhists, "clinging to the first rationalization that allows people to keep doing what they want" is a perfectly rational thing to do.
- Francis Ocoma
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Again, this is a scientifically illiterate comment. The earth receives an immense amount of energy from the sun. So it is obvious that even a small change in either the rate of energy influx or energy efflux could make a substantial difference in the equilibrium temperature.
Suggesting that a "trace" gas can have little effect is foolish and unscientific. What matters is what it does, not its absolute level. A "trace" level of cyanide will kill you. The fact that atmospheric levels of CO2 make a major contribution to the energy balance of the earth has been known since the 17th century. There is no meaningful scientific dispute about this.