Transcript Antarctic ice bridge collapse hailed as new sign of global warming

Global Warming – Climate Change
Who Cares?
image at: communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/the...
Global Warming – Climate Change
Who Cares?
However - this is a Science class and
Science deals only with evidence and
assessment of evidence to the best of
our honest (disinterested) ability.
Global Warming – Climate Change
Who Cares?
However - this is a Science class and
Science deals only with evidence and
assessment of evidence to the best of
our honest (disinterested) ability.
Furthermore an important Lemma:
All conjecture without evidence is
irrelevant to Truth about the Universe
at: www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climate...
Antarctic ice bridge collapse hailed as
new sign of global warming
An ice bridge holding a vast Antarctic
ice shelf in place has collapsed,
providing new evidence of the extent of
global warming, according to scientists.
BST 05 Apr 2009
Antarctic ice bridge collapse hailed as new sign of
global warming
An ice bridge holding a vast Antarctic ice shelf in
place has collapsed, providing new evidence of the
extent of global warming, according to scientists.
Published: 9:44AM BST 05 Apr 2009
Antarctic ice bridge collapse hailed as new sign of
global warming
Satellite images of the Wilkins Ice Shelf on the
Antarctic Peninsula showed how the ice suddenly
gave way.
The satellite picture, from the European Space
Agency (ESA), showed that a 40 km (25 mile) long
strip of ice believed to pin the Wilkins Ice Shelf in
place had splintered at its narrowest point, about
500 metres wide.
Antarctic ice bridge collapse hailed as new sign of
global warming
An ice bridge holding a vast Antarctic ice shelf in
place has collapsed, providing new evidence of the
extent of global warming, according to scientists.
Published: 9:44AM BST 05 Apr 2009
Antarctic ice bridge collapse hailed as new sign of
global warming
Satellite images of the Wilkins Ice Shelf on the
Antarctic Peninsula showed how the ice suddenly
gave way.
The satellite picture, from the European Space
Agency (ESA), showed that a 40 km (25 mile) long
strip of ice believed to pin the Wilkins Ice Shelf in
place had splintered at its narrowest point, about
500 metres wide.
"It's amazing how the ice has ruptured. Two days
ago it was intact," David Vaughan, a glaciologist with
the British Antarctic Survey, told Reuters.
"We've waited a long time to see this," he said.
The Wilkins, now the size of Jamaica or the U.S.
state of Connecticut, is one of 10 shelves to have
shrunk or collapsed in recent years on the Antarctic
Peninsula, where temperatures have risen in recent
decades apparently because of global warming.
The ESA picture showed a jumble of huge flattopped icebergs in the sea where the ice bridge had
been, pinning the Wilkins to the coast and running
northwest to Charcot Island.
"Charcot Island will be a real island for the first time
in history," Mr Vaughan said.
The loss of the ice bridge, jutting about 20 metres out of
the water and which was almost 100 km wide in 1950,
may now allow ocean currents to wash away far more of
the Wilkins shelf. "My feeling is that we will lose more of
the ice, but there will be a remnant to the south," said Mr
Vaughan. Ice shelves float on the water, formed by ice
spilling off Antarctica, and can be hundreds of metres
thick. Cores of sediments on the seabed indicate that
some of these ice shelves had been in place for at least
10,000 years. "We believe the warming on the Antarctic
Peninsla is related to global climate change, though the
links are not entirely clear," Mr Vaughan said. The loss of
ice shelves does not affect sea levels - floating ice
contracts as it melts and so does not raise ocean levels.
But their loss can allow glaciers on land to slide more
rapidly towards the sea, adding water to the oceans.
Antarctic ice bridge collapse hailed as new sign of global
warming
An ice bridge holding a vast Antarctic ice shelf in place has
collapsed, providing new evidence of the extent of global
warming, according to scientists.
Published: 9:44AM BST 05 Apr 2009
Antarctic ice bridge collapse hailed as new sign of global warming
Satellite images of the Wilkins Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula
showed how the ice suddenly gave way.
The satellite picture, from the European Space Agency (ESA), showed
that a 40 km (25 mile) long strip of ice believed to pin the Wilkins Ice
Shelf in place had splintered at its narrowest point, about 500 metres
wide.
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"It's amazing how the ice has ruptured. Two days ago it was intact,"
David Vaughan, a glaciologist with the British Antarctic Survey, told