BS: Holy ice sheet !

Subject: RE: BS: Holy ice sheet !
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 15 May 14 - 08:19 AM

Stu, they don't read the science. They want to steal it ALL and be infinitely rich NOW!

Subject: RE: BS: Holy ice sheet !
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 15 May 14 - 07:49 AM

Richard:
Think of it this way. Even when floating there's a lot of (frozen) water above sea level. In one lump. When it melts, it all spreads out - a thinner layer of course, but still an extra layer of water.
Just the point I made, as it melts it shrinks until it matches the volume of the water previously displaced by the volume of ice previously below the waterline. This should not result in an increase in sea-level.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy ice sheet !
From: GUEST,#
Date: 14 May 14 - 09:31 AM

It ain't a pretty pictu

Subject: RE: BS: Holy ice sheet !
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 14 May 14 - 08:39 AM

Stu, they don't read the science. They believe.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy ice sheet !
From: Stu
Date: 14 May 14 - 07:17 AM

The most amazing aspect of this story is the fact the whole of the Western Antarctic Ice Shelf has already started to collapse, a process that is irreversible and will lead to up to 4m of sea level rise. The consequences of this are difficult to overstate, and no-one who will be about is going to be 'OK'. Even the super-rich will suffer eventually, although I suspect that their demise will be put off for a while.

Vast sections of land are going to disappear, the populations of entire countries such as Bangladesh will be displaced and a huge amount of land is going to be lost. All of this on top of the effects of climate change means that as a civilisation, we are royally fucked.

So even though the effects might be minimal in my lifetime, my great-nephews and nieces will be facing a pretty unpleasant situation. Of course, many of us including our politicians, business folk and other head-in-the-sand types will say this is overly pessimistic, doom-mongering and what have you, to which I say: "Read the science". It's unequivocal and now we need to decide how to act.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy ice sheet !
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 14 May 14 - 06:12 AM

Think of it this way. Even when floating there's a lot of (frozen) water above sea level. In one lump. When it melts, it all spreads out - a thinner layer of course, but still an extra layer of water.

And, indeed, there is a LOT more where that came from, supported by being land anchored.

I think I have a horse in this race in that my house is on the 5 metre line!

Subject: RE: BS: Holy ice sheet !
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 14 May 14 - 05:59 AM

Of course, if the ice was previously supported by land then moving it onto the sea would effect sea levels. But as it has already broken free then by the argument above it will already have effected sea levels as much as it is likely to do.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy ice sheet !
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 14 May 14 - 05:53 AM

I'm a little confused. (nothing new there then)
The article seems to be discussing a sheet of 'marine ice' which has broken off, and is expected to melt.
Based on its size they give a prediction of a rise in sea levels.
I thought (and it seems Archimedes agreed) that "A body wholly or partly immersed in a fluid receives an upthrust equal to the weight of the fluid displaced", so ice floats only because it is less dense than the water below it.
If it melts, then in the process it becomes more dense, and contracts to replace the volume of water it previously displaced. As such, apart from any slight difference in densities of fresh/salt water, why would this cause an increase in sea levels?

Try this at home, put a few ice cubes in a glass, and fill to the brim with water. When the ice cubes melt does the water suddenly overflow the glass?

Subject: RE: BS: Holy ice sheet !
From: Ebbie
Date: 14 May 14 - 03:42 AM

In just a slight segue here:

I have been glad that I was most likely going to be dead by the time the stuff really hit the fan (not so sure anymore- we seem to be in accelerated mode) and how glad I am not to be 20 years old having to deal with such reduced expectations, huge problems that they have to address just to keep the planet livable.

And then one day it hit me: They are going to be all right. (At least, the generation after this current crop of young folks will be all right. The current 20 year olds have to deal with their parents and grandparents.) Youth is energetic and idealistic, inventive and innovative. Besides, they will not know anything different.

What I was lamenting is the disparity between my generation expected - and mostly, got- and the stark realities facing the young now. That is not what they will concentrate on.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy ice sheet !
From: GUEST,michaelr
Date: 14 May 14 - 03:26 AM

Yep. Those AI machines will have a tough time trying to fix our fuckups.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy ice sheet !
From: GUEST,#
Date: 13 May 14 - 08:00 PM

A piece of Antarctica's ice, 200 ft thick and ten times the size of Manhattan Island, has broken off. (Nothing to see here folks, nothing to see.)

Subject: RE: BS: Holy ice sheet !
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 13 May 14 - 03:11 AM

I have a theory that an extremely deadly virus will evolve, which will wipe out a fairly large proportion of the Earth's population. I agree with Michaelr, our planet will contrive to survive.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy ice sheet !
From: GUEST,michaelr
Date: 13 May 14 - 02:09 AM

Now the planet is gearing up to rid itself of humans like the noxious parasite we are.

There's no need to worry about the planet. The Earth will be OK; it has a lot more time than we do to cleanse itself. Life will continue; we won't.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy ice sheet !
From: Janie
Date: 13 May 14 - 01:55 AM

Reminds me of all the WV politicians, Dem and Repub. alike during the current election season who don't dare call a spade a spade for fear it will cost them the election.

And who can blame them. No easy answers, given the ego and ethno centrism of the average human being who bothers to vote. If one can't get elected one can't vote to incrementally change policies.

No easy political answers, but what is happening in many other countries across the pond, is a foreshadowing, I fear, especially when I read about the absurd but dangerous and still not dealt with actions by "militia" in the case of the cattle rancher/antisocial/narcissitic Bundy of what is to come in our own country, much less stable than it was at one time. If I didn't have a young son, Nephews, neices and grand neices I maybe could stick my head in the sand and just worry about my old survival into what I hope is not a lengthy old age.

My little rant may sound like thread drift, but it isn't.

As a species, we have run out of earth. As a species we have evolved, with tremendous success, to incorporate and include many conflicting drives and instincts and perspectives that incorporate in varying degrees our complex reliance on individuality and social community. All of that depended on sufficient physical space and resources for it all to balance out in the end. Always dependent on winners winning in some ways, and also always dependent on altruism and cooperation and accommodation in others.

Space is all used up. Resources are about to get all used up.

Now what?

Subject: RE: BS: Holy ice sheet !
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 May 14 - 11:22 PM

Oh, I saw the news item on that and can only say, "Goody, goody! Now I'm SURE to have beachfront property!!!"

Subject: RE: BS: Holy ice sheet !
From: Greg F.
Date: 12 May 14 - 10:11 PM

No such thing as global warming/climate change. Say 25%+ of the U.S. population in all polls to date, and probably 75% of Republicans.

Relax. It all under control. Don't listen to socialist propaganda.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy ice sheet !
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 May 14 - 09:59 PM

There was a story on National Public Radio this evening. 'Past The Point Of No Return:' An Antarctic Ice Sheet's Slow Collapse.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Holy ice sheet !
From: Donuel
Date: 12 May 14 - 08:37 PM

The unpredicted exponential increase in perma-frost melt, Greenland melt, dark north polar open water, increased coal and forest burning and a multitude of other new unforeseen factors may make the 200 years from now scenario an overly optimistic pipe dream.

Subject: BS: Holy ice sheet !
From: Donuel
Date: 12 May 14 - 08:28 PM

nbc news: ice sheet collapse

Entrepreneur alert. Land on ice sheet as it tours the Pacific.
Build casino. Via green screen report to Fox news that the collapse is a hoax. Cruise destination for trend setters. Sell ice cubes.
As it floats north build a Green Peace port.
Dare republicans to tour the new floating continent. Start an electric car rally to drive coast to coast on the sheet.
Offer Game show prizes to go on an Ice Sheetland vacation.
As the great drought induced Texodus continues, buy the new coast land ten feet higher and a mile inland for new BP resorts.
Create a Vegas betting challenge on the point where the sheet will first collide with a land mass.

Pull the sheet with 10,000 ships to dock at LA and build the Disney FROZEN theme park.