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Larson B Ice Shelf In Antarctica To Disintegrate Within 5 Years
BarbaraHudson writes: A new study (abstract) from NASA scientists predicts an Antarctic ice shelf half the size of Rhode Island will disintegrate around 2020. The shelf has existed for roughly 10,000 years. "Ice shelves are the gatekeepers for glaciers flowing from Antarctica toward the ocean. Without them, glacial ice enters the ocean faster and accelerates the pace of global sea level rise." At its thickest point, the ice shelf remnant is a half kilometer tall, and spans approximately 1,600 square kilometers. "The glaciers' thicknesses and flow speeds changed only slightly in the first couple of years following the 2002 collapse, leading researchers to assume they remained stable. The new study revealed, however, that Leppard and Flask glaciers have thinned by 65-72 feet (20-22 meters) and accelerated considerably in the intervening years. The fastest-moving part of Flask Glacier had accelerated 36 percent by 2012 to a flow speed of 2,300 feet (700 meters) a year."
Earth is not a stable static thing. It changes. All the time.
Fun fact: Alarm is a completely rational response to alarming events, regardless of frequency.
Except that in this case the "Alarm" being raised is due to the output of some computer simulations that are trying to predict the future.... Simulations I might add which have been wildly wrong in the past, but they claim to have fixed now. Of course none of this "alarm" has anything to do with political and financial power either....
Riiight...
So in this case, the RATIONAL thing to do is to be a bit skeptical of all the alarmist rhetoric about things where there obviously is a potential for political and financial gains by the people making the claims.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
LMOL - which is the complete opposite of the point of the article, that the age of the ice sheet was significant. Nice reading comprehension skills Zippy.