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Iceberg the Size of Delaware, Among Biggest Ever Recorded, Snaps Off Antarctica (marketwatch.com)

A giant iceberg about the size of Delaware that had been under scientists' watch has broken off from an ice shelf on the Antarctica Peninsula and is now adrift in the Weddell Sea. From a report: The 2,200 square-mile, trillion metric-ton section of the Larsen C ice shelf "calved" off sometime between Monday and Wednesday, a team of researchers at Swansea University's Project MIDAS has reported, citing imaging from NASA's Aqua MODIS satellite instrument. Scientists have tracked the crack for more than a decade and they warned in June that the section was "hanging by a thread." Its break, from Antarctica's fourth-largest ice shelf, changes the border shape of the peninsula forever even though the remaining ice shelf will continue to grow. "The iceberg is one of the largest recorded and its future progress is difficult to predict," said professor Adrian Luckman of Swansea University, lead investigator of the MIDAS project. "It may remain in one piece but is more likely to break into fragments. Some of the ice may remain in the area for decades, while parts of the iceberg may drift north into warmer waters."

9 of 305 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Good for Russia by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The logic is, if it can be tied to AGW, it is and is "Climate Change". If it doesn't fit AGW, it is "weather".

    And if it is something we humans haven't seen before in recorded history, it is AGW, but only if it fits the narrative. Record Snow falls, never before seen before ... not so much. And Recorded history being ... about 200 years or so.

    This is why it is hard to have rational discussions on the merits of AGW, causes and effects. The Greening Of Africa is another great example ignored. http://news.nationalgeographic...

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  2. Re:Good for Russia by AC-x · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, it's hard to have a have rational discussions on the merits of AGW when politicians toss snowballs around the senate as proof that climate change isn't happening.

    The 5 hottest years on record have all been since 2010. 11 of the 12 hottest years have been since 2000.

    Local cold snaps don't disprove that, can you point to any researchers who have claimed that climate change will prevent local cold snaps? The average temperatures speak for themselves, expect to boneheads and oil shills.

    Don't want to hear it? Then you'll have to prove the work of a vast number of scientists working for a vast number institutes in a vast number of countries all wrong.

    Oh and in case anyone feels the need to claim scientists are just protecting their research grants, the only reason this research is needed is because politicians are pushing back on the findings. If the world had acted on carbon emissions in the 80s like it did on CFCs then there wouldn't be the need for this research would there?

  3. Re:Good for Russia by fyngyrz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Stubborn folk stay behind in Eritrea and Ethiopia where there is little food.

    Poor folk stay behind in Eritrea and Ethiopia where there is little food.

    FTFY.

    </truth>

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  4. Re:New country for libertarians! by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1, Insightful

    So Libertarians are more violent than socialists?

    For example

    Stalin,
    Mao
    Pol Pot

    and those nice itty-bitty tin pot dictators in Uganda, Zimbabwe, Venezuela

    --
    If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
    Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
  5. Re:Good for Russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    There were relatively easy alternatives to CFCs. Not so much for carbon emissions. Other than just not existing.

  6. Re:Good for Russia by Tulsa_Time · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The 5 hottest years on record have all been since 2010. 11 of the 12 hottest years have been since 2000.

    Only if you accept adjusted temperature readings..

    --
    5 out of 6 people enjoy Russian Roulette & 6 out of 7 Dwarfs are not Happy
  7. Re: Good for Russia by doctorvo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sea level rise due to climate change is 1-2 ft per century, and there are physical limits to how much faster ice masses can melt. It would take many centuries for cities to get flooded. Of course, advanced and wealthy places like the Netherlands function perfectly fine even below sea level. Fossil fuels will be replaced for economic reasons within a few decades without any government intervention or carbon taxes or Paris accords. So, no risk of flooding.

  8. Forever? Really? by strikethree · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Its break, from Antarctica's fourth-largest ice shelf, changes the border shape of the peninsula forever even though the remaining ice shelf will continue to grow.

    It is the use of words like this that make me wonder about the sanity of the people writing this shit.

    The headline should be: Unfathomably large chunk of ice just broke off of an ice shelf in Antarctica.

    Why would anyone care if the fucking coastline has changed? Forever. The universe is not a static place, coasts even less static than most. Why is the coastline changing forever even a part of this story?

    I am sure such insanity is being promulgated for a reason. I have no idea if it is to drive me away from, or to, whatever mouthbreathing thing they are trying to push but I am weary of it.

    Just provide facts. A VERY light touch of speculation of what it could mean is okay as long the writer specifically mentions it is speculation. It is almost as if we can't think for ourselves or something... or actively being prevented from thinking?

    --
    "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
  9. Re:Good for Russia by hawkfish · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The 5 hottest years on record have all been since 2010. 11 of the 12 hottest years have been since 2000.

    Only if you accept adjusted temperature readings..

    That would explain why some skeptics at Berkeley didn't accept them, made their own measurements and got the same results.

    --
    You will not drink with us, but you would taste our steel? - Walter Matthau, The Pirates