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Geothermal Heat Contributing To West Antarctic Ice Sheet Melting

bricko sends this news from The University of Texas at Austin: Thwaites Glacier, the large, rapidly changing outlet of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, is not only being eroded by the ocean, it's being melted from below by geothermal heat, researchers at the Institute for Geophysics at The University of Texas at Austin (UTIG) report in the current edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The findings significantly change the understanding of conditions beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, where accurate information has previously been unobtainable. The Thwaites Glacier has been the focus of considerable attention in recent weeks as other groups of researchers found the glacier is on the way to collapse, but more data and computer modeling are needed to determine when the collapse will begin in earnest and at what rate the sea level will increase as it proceeds. The new observations by UTIG will greatly inform these ice sheet modeling efforts.

2 of 387 comments (clear)

  1. Re:And who will be pushing the accelerator by dave420 · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Translation: "I agree that CO2 is changing the atmosphere, but as I am selfish, if it inconveniences me at all to do something about it, I won't, and I will happily condemn future generations to deal with the problem as I simply can't be fucked". Lovely person.

  2. Re:Queue the deniers by dave420 · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    1. The science is settled. This is not up for negotiation just to make some scientifically-illiterate numpty happy
    2. The science is not political, but the solutions are, as they require broad cooperation to implement. That is non-negotiable, too.

    The real options are:

    1. Accept the scientific method, accept the findings of the world's climatologists, and implement solutions.

    oh, wait, that's it. You don't seem to understand the difference between the science and the politics.