10,000-year-old Antarctic ice shelf will disappear by 2020

[orogenicman]

Either way, you were wrong.

Possibly. The graph you posted is from a AGW group so their info is a tad biased don't you think?

If you have evidence that it is wrong, by all means, put it up. Otherwise, admit that you were mistaken and move on.

Like you do when you're proven wrong right?

By the way, I'm still waiting

What? Did we have a date I didn't know about? Sorry, you're not my type.

Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha, I'm still waiting for you to admit you were wrong, you shouldn't ask for something you can't commit to

I'm still waiting for you to answer one single question I've asked. Don't want to answer any of them? Well, then, go frag yourself.

 

[skookerasbil]

Possibly. The graph you posted is from a AGW group so their info is a tad biased don't you think?

If you have evidence that it is wrong, by all means, put it up. Otherwise, admit that you were mistaken and move on.

Like you do when you're proven wrong right?

By the way, I'm still waiting

What? Did we have a date I didn't know about? Sorry, you're not my type.

Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha, I'm still waiting for you to admit you were wrong, you shouldn't ask for something you can't commit to

I'm still waiting for you to answer one single question I've asked. Don't want to answer any of them? Well, then, go frag yourself.

s0n.........you haven't answered the only important question to be answered. None of your mental case pals have either by the way!!!

Show is where the science is mattering?

 

[jc456]

It will do zero to sea levels. For Christsakes Dims are fucking stupid.

NASA Study Shows Antarctica s Larsen B Ice Shelf Nearing Its Final Act NASA

A new NASA study finds the last remaining section of Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf, which partially collapsed in 2002, is quickly weakening and likely to disintegrate completely before the end of the decade.

A team led by Ala Khazendar of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, found the remnant of the Larsen B Ice Shelf is flowing faster, becoming increasingly fragmented and developing large cracks. Two of its tributary glaciers also are flowing faster and thinning rapidly.

"These are warning signs that the remnant is disintegrating," Khazendar said. "Although it’s fascinating scientifically to have a front-row seat to watch the ice shelf becoming unstable and breaking up, it’s bad news for our planet. This ice shelf has existed for at least 10,000 years, and soon it will be gone."

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. This study, the first to look comprehensively at the health of the Larsen B remnant and the glaciers that flow into it, has been published online in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Khazendar's team used data on ice surface elevations and bedrock depths from instrumented aircraft participating in NASA's Operation IceBridge, a multiyear airborne survey campaign that provides unprecedented documentation annually of Antarctica's glaciers, ice shelves and ice sheets. Data on flow speeds came from spaceborne synthetic aperture radars operating since 1997.

Khazendar noted his estimate of the remnant's remaining life span was based on the likely scenario that a huge, widening rift that has formed near the ice shelf's grounding line will eventually crack all the way across. The free-floating remnant will shatter into hundreds of icebergs that will drift away, and the glaciers will rev up for their unhindered move to the sea.

Located on the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Larsen B remnant is about 625 square miles (1,600 square kilometers) in area and about 1,640 feet (500 meters) thick at its thickest point. Its three major tributary glaciers are fed by their own tributaries farther inland.

"What is really surprising about Larsen B is how quickly the changes are taking place," Khazendar said. "Change has been relentless."

The remnant's main tributary glaciers are named Leppard, Flask and Starbuck -- the latter two after characters in the novel Moby Dick. 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 -- comparable to a car accelerating from 55 to 75 mph.

Flask's acceleration, while the remnant has been weakening, may be just a preview of what will happen when the remnant breaks up completely. After the 2002 Larsen B collapse, the glaciers behind the collapsed part of the shelf accelerated as much as eightfold – comparable to a car accelerating from 55 to 440 mph.

The third and smallest glacier, Starbuck, has changed little. Starbuck's channel is narrow compared with those of the other glaciers, and strongly anchored to the bedrock, which, according to authors of the study, explains its comparative stability.

"This study of the Antarctic Peninsula glaciers provides insights about how ice shelves farther south, which hold much more land ice, will react to a warming climate," said JPL glaciologist Eric Rignot, a coauthor of the paper.

The research team included scientists from JPL, the University of California, Irvine, and the University Centre in Svalbard, Norway. The paper is online at:

http://go.nasa.gov/1bbpfsC

NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives and safeguard our future. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records. The agency freely shares this unique knowledge and works with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our planet is changing.

For more information about NASA’s Earth science activities, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/earth

Dude....A glacier in water that melts does exactly zero to sea level. Jeezus, if that has to be explained all hope is lost.

An ice sheet in water that melts does nothing to the sea level. A melting/collapsing ice sheet on water holding back a massive glacier on land acts like a failing damn, releasing into the ocean the ice locked up on that land glacier. And THAT does affect sea level.

But it is floating. Big word there. Read what I posted. It's been posted earlier in the thread. Float adds zippolla

Land ice affects sea level by melting, the water running off the land and into the sea. When ice sheets like Larsen B collapse, they can release the massive land glacier they are holding back. That glacier then speeds up and flows into the sea, and melts. In response, the seal level increases. This is glaciology 101. If you want anything more advanced, I'm afraid I will have to charge you for it. I'm not your teacher, and I don't work for free.

Floating

 

[Old Rocks]

Image 2 of 4 (play slideshow) Download

Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis Sea ice data updated daily with one-day lag

Right on the edge of two standard deviations, about 2 1/2 % chance of being natural.

Why do you say that? It's been much lower in the last 50 years.

At this date in time, it has been lower only in 2011;

Northern Hemisphere Sea Ice Area

 

[Old Rocks]

NASA Study Shows Antarctica s Larsen B Ice Shelf Nearing Its Final Act NASA

Dude....A glacier in water that melts does exactly zero to sea level. Jeezus, if that has to be explained all hope is lost.

An ice sheet in water that melts does nothing to the sea level. A melting/collapsing ice sheet on water holding back a massive glacier on land acts like a failing damn, releasing into the ocean the ice locked up on that land glacier. And THAT does affect sea level.

But it is floating. Big word there. Read what I posted. It's been posted earlier in the thread. Float adds zippolla

Land ice affects sea level by melting, the water running off the land and into the sea. When ice sheets like Larsen B collapse, they can release the massive land glacier they are holding back. That glacier then speeds up and flows into the sea, and melts. In response, the seal level increases. This is glaciology 101. If you want anything more advanced, I'm afraid I will have to charge you for it. I'm not your teacher, and I don't work for free.

Floating

Unteachable.

 

[syonidv]

It will do zero to sea levels. For Christsakes Dims are fucking stupid.



So, the fact that the shelf is only 10,000 years old escaped your attention did it? If the shelf is only 10,000 years old, that means that it was a whole bunch warmer before that. Then it got cold. What "magic" is responsible for that?

The age of the shelf is unimportant. What is important is what it's disintegration is going to do to global sea levels, how it will impact coastlines full of people.

It will do zero to sea levels. For Christsakes Dims are fucking stupid.

NASA Study Shows Antarctica s Larsen B Ice Shelf Nearing Its Final Act NASA

A new NASA study finds the last remaining section of Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf, which partially collapsed in 2002, is quickly weakening and likely to disintegrate completely before the end of the decade.

A team led by Ala Khazendar of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, found the remnant of the Larsen B Ice Shelf is flowing faster, becoming increasingly fragmented and developing large cracks. Two of its tributary glaciers also are flowing faster and thinning rapidly.

"These are warning signs that the remnant is disintegrating," Khazendar said. "Although it’s fascinating scientifically to have a front-row seat to watch the ice shelf becoming unstable and breaking up, it’s bad news for our planet. This ice shelf has existed for at least 10,000 years, and soon it will be gone."

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. This study, the first to look comprehensively at the health of the Larsen B remnant and the glaciers that flow into it, has been published online in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Khazendar's team used data on ice surface elevations and bedrock depths from instrumented aircraft participating in NASA's Operation IceBridge, a multiyear airborne survey campaign that provides unprecedented documentation annually of Antarctica's glaciers, ice shelves and ice sheets. Data on flow speeds came from spaceborne synthetic aperture radars operating since 1997.

Khazendar noted his estimate of the remnant's remaining life span was based on the likely scenario that a huge, widening rift that has formed near the ice shelf's grounding line will eventually crack all the way across. The free-floating remnant will shatter into hundreds of icebergs that will drift away, and the glaciers will rev up for their unhindered move to the sea.

Located on the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Larsen B remnant is about 625 square miles (1,600 square kilometers) in area and about 1,640 feet (500 meters) thick at its thickest point. Its three major tributary glaciers are fed by their own tributaries farther inland.

"What is really surprising about Larsen B is how quickly the changes are taking place," Khazendar said. "Change has been relentless."

The remnant's main tributary glaciers are named Leppard, Flask and Starbuck -- the latter two after characters in the novel Moby Dick. 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 -- comparable to a car accelerating from 55 to 75 mph.

Flask's acceleration, while the remnant has been weakening, may be just a preview of what will happen when the remnant breaks up completely. After the 2002 Larsen B collapse, the glaciers behind the collapsed part of the shelf accelerated as much as eightfold – comparable to a car accelerating from 55 to 440 mph.

The third and smallest glacier, Starbuck, has changed little. Starbuck's channel is narrow compared with those of the other glaciers, and strongly anchored to the bedrock, which, according to authors of the study, explains its comparative stability.

"This study of the Antarctic Peninsula glaciers provides insights about how ice shelves farther south, which hold much more land ice, will react to a warming climate," said JPL glaciologist Eric Rignot, a coauthor of the paper.

The research team included scientists from JPL, the University of California, Irvine, and the University Centre in Svalbard, Norway. The paper is online at:

http://go.nasa.gov/1bbpfsC

NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives and safeguard our future. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records. The agency freely shares this unique knowledge and works with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our planet is changing.

For more information about NASA’s Earth science activities, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/earth

Dude....A glacier in water that melts does exactly zero to sea level. Jeezus, if that has to be explained all hope is lost.

An ice sheet in water that melts does nothing to the sea level. A melting/collapsing ice sheet on water holding back a massive glacier on land acts like a failing damn, releasing into the ocean the ice locked up on that land glacier. And THAT does affect sea level.

Whether it affects it enough to be worth giving a care is another question, however.

 

[bripat9643]

Changes are coming fast, less them 5 years. What warming?


One of the last remaining sections of Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf is dramatically weakening, according to a new NASA study.

The study predicts that what remains of the once-prominent ice shelf, a thick floating platform of ice, most likely will "disintegrate completely" before the end of this decade

NASA Antarctica s Larsen B Ice Shelf to disappear - CNN.com

It will do zero to sea levels. For Christsakes Dims are fucking stupid.



So, the fact that the shelf is only 10,000 years old escaped your attention did it? If the shelf is only 10,000 years old, that means that it was a whole bunch warmer before that. Then it got cold. What "magic" is responsible for that?

The age of the shelf is unimportant. What is important is what it's disintegration is going to do to global sea levels, how it will impact coastlines full of people.

It will do zero to sea levels. For Christsakes Dims are fucking stupid.

Do I have to see Hillary's ugly face every time you post?

 

[bripat9643]

It will do zero to sea levels. For Christsakes Dims are fucking stupid.



So, the fact that the shelf is only 10,000 years old escaped your attention did it? If the shelf is only 10,000 years old, that means that it was a whole bunch warmer before that. Then it got cold. What "magic" is responsible for that?

The age of the shelf is unimportant. What is important is what it's disintegration is going to do to global sea levels, how it will impact coastlines full of people.

It will do zero to sea levels. For Christsakes Dims are fucking stupid.

NASA Study Shows Antarctica s Larsen B Ice Shelf Nearing Its Final Act NASA

A new NASA study finds the last remaining section of Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf, which partially collapsed in 2002, is quickly weakening and likely to disintegrate completely before the end of the decade.

A team led by Ala Khazendar of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, found the remnant of the Larsen B Ice Shelf is flowing faster, becoming increasingly fragmented and developing large cracks. Two of its tributary glaciers also are flowing faster and thinning rapidly.

"These are warning signs that the remnant is disintegrating," Khazendar said. "Although it’s fascinating scientifically to have a front-row seat to watch the ice shelf becoming unstable and breaking up, it’s bad news for our planet. This ice shelf has existed for at least 10,000 years, and soon it will be gone."

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. This study, the first to look comprehensively at the health of the Larsen B remnant and the glaciers that flow into it, has been published online in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Khazendar's team used data on ice surface elevations and bedrock depths from instrumented aircraft participating in NASA's Operation IceBridge, a multiyear airborne survey campaign that provides unprecedented documentation annually of Antarctica's glaciers, ice shelves and ice sheets. Data on flow speeds came from spaceborne synthetic aperture radars operating since 1997.

Khazendar noted his estimate of the remnant's remaining life span was based on the likely scenario that a huge, widening rift that has formed near the ice shelf's grounding line will eventually crack all the way across. The free-floating remnant will shatter into hundreds of icebergs that will drift away, and the glaciers will rev up for their unhindered move to the sea.

Located on the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Larsen B remnant is about 625 square miles (1,600 square kilometers) in area and about 1,640 feet (500 meters) thick at its thickest point. Its three major tributary glaciers are fed by their own tributaries farther inland.

"What is really surprising about Larsen B is how quickly the changes are taking place," Khazendar said. "Change has been relentless."

The remnant's main tributary glaciers are named Leppard, Flask and Starbuck -- the latter two after characters in the novel Moby Dick. 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 -- comparable to a car accelerating from 55 to 75 mph.

Flask's acceleration, while the remnant has been weakening, may be just a preview of what will happen when the remnant breaks up completely. After the 2002 Larsen B collapse, the glaciers behind the collapsed part of the shelf accelerated as much as eightfold – comparable to a car accelerating from 55 to 440 mph.

The third and smallest glacier, Starbuck, has changed little. Starbuck's channel is narrow compared with those of the other glaciers, and strongly anchored to the bedrock, which, according to authors of the study, explains its comparative stability.

"This study of the Antarctic Peninsula glaciers provides insights about how ice shelves farther south, which hold much more land ice, will react to a warming climate," said JPL glaciologist Eric Rignot, a coauthor of the paper.

The research team included scientists from JPL, the University of California, Irvine, and the University Centre in Svalbard, Norway. The paper is online at:

http://go.nasa.gov/1bbpfsC

NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives and safeguard our future. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records. The agency freely shares this unique knowledge and works with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our planet is changing.

For more information about NASA’s Earth science activities, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/earth

Dude....A glacier in water that melts does exactly zero to sea level. Jeezus, if that has to be explained all hope is lost.

An ice sheet in water that melts does nothing to the sea level. A melting/collapsing ice sheet on water holding back a massive glacier on land acts like a failing damn, releasing into the ocean the ice locked up on that land glacier. And THAT does affect sea level.

CO2 has no effect on volcanoes, so I doubt so-called "green energy" is going do any good.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

"... it is a warning. The conclusion is inescapable".

And yet -

Hmmm . . . don't build your house near a volcano?

Good advice...

Oops.

 

[jon_berzerk]

Updated data from NASA satellite instruments reveal the Earth’s polar ice caps have not receded at all since the satellite instruments began measuring the ice caps in 1979. Since the end of 2012, moreover, total polar ice extent has largely remained above the post-1979 average. The updated data contradict one of the most frequently asserted global warming claims – that global warming is causing the polar ice caps to recede.

The timing of the 1979 NASA satellite instrument launch could not have been better for global warming alarmists. The late 1970s marked the end of a 30-year cooling trend. As a result, the polar ice caps were quite likely more extensive than they had been since at least the 1920s. Nevertheless, this abnormally extensive 1979 polar ice extent would appear to be the “normal” baseline when comparing post-1979 polar ice extent.

Updated NASA satellite data show the polar ice caps remained at approximately their 1979 extent until the middle of the last decade. Beginning in 2005, however, polar ice modestly receded for several years. By 2012, polar sea ice had receded by approximately 10 percent from 1979 measurements. (Total polar ice area – factoring in both sea and land ice – had receded by much less than 10 percent, but alarmists focused on the sea ice loss as “proof” of a global warming crisis.)

Updated NASA Data: Global Warming Not Causing Any Polar Ice Retreat

Updated NASA Data Global Warming Not Causing Any Polar Ice Retreat - Forbes

 

[jc456]

Dude....A glacier in water that melts does exactly zero to sea level. Jeezus, if that has to be explained all hope is lost.

An ice sheet in water that melts does nothing to the sea level. A melting/collapsing ice sheet on water holding back a massive glacier on land acts like a failing damn, releasing into the ocean the ice locked up on that land glacier. And THAT does affect sea level.

But it is floating. Big word there. Read what I posted. It's been posted earlier in the thread. Float adds zippolla

Land ice affects sea level by melting, the water running off the land and into the sea. When ice sheets like Larsen B collapse, they can release the massive land glacier they are holding back. That glacier then speeds up and flows into the sea, and melts. In response, the seal level increases. This is glaciology 101. If you want anything more advanced, I'm afraid I will have to charge you for it. I'm not your teacher, and I don't work for free.

Floating

Unteachable.

Changes are coming fast, less them 5 years. What warming?


One of the last remaining sections of Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf is dramatically weakening, according to a new NASA study.

The study predicts that what remains of the once-prominent ice shelf, a thick floating platform of ice, most likely will "disintegrate completely" before the end of this decade

NASA Antarctica s Larsen B Ice Shelf to disappear - CNN.com

so, I can't help but focus on the phrase 'a thick floating platform of ice'. hmmm, you know what floating means right if it melts?

Come now, floating is not connected to land. Please, here, let me educate you.

 

[orogenicman]

NASA Study Shows Antarctica s Larsen B Ice Shelf Nearing Its Final Act NASA

Dude....A glacier in water that melts does exactly zero to sea level. Jeezus, if that has to be explained all hope is lost.

An ice sheet in water that melts does nothing to the sea level. A melting/collapsing ice sheet on water holding back a massive glacier on land acts like a failing damn, releasing into the ocean the ice locked up on that land glacier. And THAT does affect sea level.

But it is floating. Big word there. Read what I posted. It's been posted earlier in the thread. Float adds zippolla

Land ice affects sea level by melting, the water running off the land and into the sea. When ice sheets like Larsen B collapse, they can release the massive land glacier they are holding back. That glacier then speeds up and flows into the sea, and melts. In response, the seal level increases. This is glaciology 101. If you want anything more advanced, I'm afraid I will have to charge you for it. I'm not your teacher, and I don't work for free.

Floating

The weight of a land glacier is on the LAND, not the sea. That is, until the seaward ice sheet collapses, allowing the land glacier to spread onto the SEA. You must be really dense not to understand this.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Dude....A glacier in water that melts does exactly zero to sea level. Jeezus, if that has to be explained all hope is lost.

An ice sheet in water that melts does nothing to the sea level. A melting/collapsing ice sheet on water holding back a massive glacier on land acts like a failing damn, releasing into the ocean the ice locked up on that land glacier. And THAT does affect sea level.

But it is floating. Big word there. Read what I posted. It's been posted earlier in the thread. Float adds zippolla

Land ice affects sea level by melting, the water running off the land and into the sea. When ice sheets like Larsen B collapse, they can release the massive land glacier they are holding back. That glacier then speeds up and flows into the sea, and melts. In response, the seal level increases. This is glaciology 101. If you want anything more advanced, I'm afraid I will have to charge you for it. I'm not your teacher, and I don't work for free.

Floating

The weight of a land glacier is on the LAND, not the sea. That is, until the seaward ice sheet collapses, allowing the land glacier to spread onto the SEA. You must be really dense not to understand this.

...and will make Guam tip over

 

[orogenicman]

Changes are coming fast, less them 5 years. What warming?


One of the last remaining sections of Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf is dramatically weakening, according to a new NASA study.

The study predicts that what remains of the once-prominent ice shelf, a thick floating platform of ice, most likely will "disintegrate completely" before the end of this decade

NASA Antarctica s Larsen B Ice Shelf to disappear - CNN.com

It will do zero to sea levels. For Christsakes Dims are fucking stupid.



So, the fact that the shelf is only 10,000 years old escaped your attention did it? If the shelf is only 10,000 years old, that means that it was a whole bunch warmer before that. Then it got cold. What "magic" is responsible for that?

The age of the shelf is unimportant. What is important is what it's disintegration is going to do to global sea levels, how it will impact coastlines full of people.

It will do zero to sea levels. For Christsakes Dims are fucking stupid.

Do I have to see Hillary's ugly face every time you post?

Do you have to post abusive pictures of children?

 

[jc456]

Dude....A glacier in water that melts does exactly zero to sea level. Jeezus, if that has to be explained all hope is lost.

An ice sheet in water that melts does nothing to the sea level. A melting/collapsing ice sheet on water holding back a massive glacier on land acts like a failing damn, releasing into the ocean the ice locked up on that land glacier. And THAT does affect sea level.

But it is floating. Big word there. Read what I posted. It's been posted earlier in the thread. Float adds zippolla

Land ice affects sea level by melting, the water running off the land and into the sea. When ice sheets like Larsen B collapse, they can release the massive land glacier they are holding back. That glacier then speeds up and flows into the sea, and melts. In response, the seal level increases. This is glaciology 101. If you want anything more advanced, I'm afraid I will have to charge you for it. I'm not your teacher, and I don't work for free.

Floating

The weight of a land glacier is on the LAND, not the sea. That is, until the seaward ice sheet collapses, allowing the land glacier to spread onto the SEA. You must be really dense not to understand this.

then why do they say floating? Me, I'm not there, so I don't know. I expect those professionals discussing will accurately represent the state of it. They write floating, meaning it doesn't touch bottom already submerged occupying water volume. So, are you sure it is all land ice? or are you saying that the continent will split and fall into the ocean?

 

[orogenicman]

The age of the shelf is unimportant. What is important is what it's disintegration is going to do to global sea levels, how it will impact coastlines full of people.

It will do zero to sea levels. For Christsakes Dims are fucking stupid.

NASA Study Shows Antarctica s Larsen B Ice Shelf Nearing Its Final Act NASA

A new NASA study finds the last remaining section of Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf, which partially collapsed in 2002, is quickly weakening and likely to disintegrate completely before the end of the decade.

A team led by Ala Khazendar of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, found the remnant of the Larsen B Ice Shelf is flowing faster, becoming increasingly fragmented and developing large cracks. Two of its tributary glaciers also are flowing faster and thinning rapidly.

"These are warning signs that the remnant is disintegrating," Khazendar said. "Although it’s fascinating scientifically to have a front-row seat to watch the ice shelf becoming unstable and breaking up, it’s bad news for our planet. This ice shelf has existed for at least 10,000 years, and soon it will be gone."

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. This study, the first to look comprehensively at the health of the Larsen B remnant and the glaciers that flow into it, has been published online in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Khazendar's team used data on ice surface elevations and bedrock depths from instrumented aircraft participating in NASA's Operation IceBridge, a multiyear airborne survey campaign that provides unprecedented documentation annually of Antarctica's glaciers, ice shelves and ice sheets. Data on flow speeds came from spaceborne synthetic aperture radars operating since 1997.

Khazendar noted his estimate of the remnant's remaining life span was based on the likely scenario that a huge, widening rift that has formed near the ice shelf's grounding line will eventually crack all the way across. The free-floating remnant will shatter into hundreds of icebergs that will drift away, and the glaciers will rev up for their unhindered move to the sea.

Located on the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Larsen B remnant is about 625 square miles (1,600 square kilometers) in area and about 1,640 feet (500 meters) thick at its thickest point. Its three major tributary glaciers are fed by their own tributaries farther inland.

"What is really surprising about Larsen B is how quickly the changes are taking place," Khazendar said. "Change has been relentless."

The remnant's main tributary glaciers are named Leppard, Flask and Starbuck -- the latter two after characters in the novel Moby Dick. 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 -- comparable to a car accelerating from 55 to 75 mph.

Flask's acceleration, while the remnant has been weakening, may be just a preview of what will happen when the remnant breaks up completely. After the 2002 Larsen B collapse, the glaciers behind the collapsed part of the shelf accelerated as much as eightfold – comparable to a car accelerating from 55 to 440 mph.

The third and smallest glacier, Starbuck, has changed little. Starbuck's channel is narrow compared with those of the other glaciers, and strongly anchored to the bedrock, which, according to authors of the study, explains its comparative stability.

"This study of the Antarctic Peninsula glaciers provides insights about how ice shelves farther south, which hold much more land ice, will react to a warming climate," said JPL glaciologist Eric Rignot, a coauthor of the paper.

The research team included scientists from JPL, the University of California, Irvine, and the University Centre in Svalbard, Norway. The paper is online at:

http://go.nasa.gov/1bbpfsC

NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives and safeguard our future. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records. The agency freely shares this unique knowledge and works with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our planet is changing.

For more information about NASA’s Earth science activities, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/earth

Dude....A glacier in water that melts does exactly zero to sea level. Jeezus, if that has to be explained all hope is lost.

An ice sheet in water that melts does nothing to the sea level. A melting/collapsing ice sheet on water holding back a massive glacier on land acts like a failing damn, releasing into the ocean the ice locked up on that land glacier. And THAT does affect sea level.

CO2 has no effect on volcanoes, so I doubt so-called "green energy" is going do any good.

Well, that made no sense whatsoever. But I've come to expect that from you.

 

[orogenicman]

An ice sheet in water that melts does nothing to the sea level. A melting/collapsing ice sheet on water holding back a massive glacier on land acts like a failing damn, releasing into the ocean the ice locked up on that land glacier. And THAT does affect sea level.

But it is floating. Big word there. Read what I posted. It's been posted earlier in the thread. Float adds zippolla

Land ice affects sea level by melting, the water running off the land and into the sea. When ice sheets like Larsen B collapse, they can release the massive land glacier they are holding back. That glacier then speeds up and flows into the sea, and melts. In response, the seal level increases. This is glaciology 101. If you want anything more advanced, I'm afraid I will have to charge you for it. I'm not your teacher, and I don't work for free.

Floating

The weight of a land glacier is on the LAND, not the sea. That is, until the seaward ice sheet collapses, allowing the land glacier to spread onto the SEA. You must be really dense not to understand this.

then why do they say floating? Me, I'm not there, so I don't know. I expect those professionals discussing will accurately represent the state of it. They write floating, meaning it doesn't touch bottom already submerged occupying water volume. So, are you sure it is all land ice? or are you saying that the continent will split and fall into the ocean?

If a land glacier is not, as you claim, in contact with the land, why do glaciers contain so much rock and soil? Of course it contacts the land, dummy. And even if it did "float" on glacial water beneath, that water is on the land, not the sea, and so the weight of all of it is still on the land, not the sea. You really should stop trying to be something you are not. That is, you should stop pretending that you are a geologist, when you don't know the first thing about the science, and obviously are not very good at it.

 

[jc456]

But it is floating. Big word there. Read what I posted. It's been posted earlier in the thread. Float adds zippolla

Land ice affects sea level by melting, the water running off the land and into the sea. When ice sheets like Larsen B collapse, they can release the massive land glacier they are holding back. That glacier then speeds up and flows into the sea, and melts. In response, the seal level increases. This is glaciology 101. If you want anything more advanced, I'm afraid I will have to charge you for it. I'm not your teacher, and I don't work for free.

Floating

The weight of a land glacier is on the LAND, not the sea. That is, until the seaward ice sheet collapses, allowing the land glacier to spread onto the SEA. You must be really dense not to understand this.

then why do they say floating? Me, I'm not there, so I don't know. I expect those professionals discussing will accurately represent the state of it. They write floating, meaning it doesn't touch bottom already submerged occupying water volume. So, are you sure it is all land ice? or are you saying that the continent will split and fall into the ocean?

If a land glacier is not, as you claim, in contact with the land, why do glaciers contain so much rock and soil? Of course it contacts the land, dummy. And even if it did "float" on glacial water beneath, that water is on the land, not the sea, and so the weight of all of it is still on the land, not the sea. You really should stop trying to be something you are not. That is, you should stop pretending that you are a geologist, when you don't know the first thing about the science, and obviously are not very good at it.

first off, again you misrepresent what another poster stated. I think that is now in violation of the new rule in the Environment forum. So please, refrain from reposting my thoughts as yours.

I never said anything about land glaciers. NEVER. You did, not me. So please straighten that up. I'm asking nicely right now. Second, I think you are confused on where the ice sheet is floating. It extends into the ocean and it is submerged and not touching the sea floor. That's why it is floating. Does it touch land? I'm sure it does, doesn't matter though it's volume is displaced and already part of the ocean. Do you understand that? Any added ice to the ocean would indeed need to come from the land. So now that we're clear on that, what is the probability that the land ice will just slide right into the ocean, your dreams? there is absolutely no evidence to suggest any such thing except the doom and gloom of a warmist.

 

[Old Rocks]

Updated data from NASA satellite instruments reveal the Earth’s polar ice caps have not receded at all since the satellite instruments began measuring the ice caps in 1979. Since the end of 2012, moreover, total polar ice extent has largely remained above the post-1979 average. The updated data contradict one of the most frequently asserted global warming claims – that global warming is causing the polar ice caps to recede.

The timing of the 1979 NASA satellite instrument launch could not have been better for global warming alarmists. The late 1970s marked the end of a 30-year cooling trend. As a result, the polar ice caps were quite likely more extensive than they had been since at least the 1920s. Nevertheless, this abnormally extensive 1979 polar ice extent would appear to be the “normal” baseline when comparing post-1979 polar ice extent.

Updated NASA satellite data show the polar ice caps remained at approximately their 1979 extent until the middle of the last decade. Beginning in 2005, however, polar ice modestly receded for several years. By 2012, polar sea ice had receded by approximately 10 percent from 1979 measurements. (Total polar ice area – factoring in both sea and land ice – had receded by much less than 10 percent, but alarmists focused on the sea ice loss as “proof” of a global warming crisis.)

Updated NASA Data: Global Warming Not Causing Any Polar Ice Retreat

Updated NASA Data Global Warming Not Causing Any Polar Ice Retreat - Forbes

What a lying little bastard that author is. North Polar ice has went from 5 to 5 1/2 to 2 1/4 to 3 1/2 Km^2 for the last 8 years. That is surface area.

http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/seaice.area.arctic.png

The volume looks even more radical.





Fig.1 Arctic sea ice volume anomaly from PIOMAS updated once a month. Daily Sea Ice volume anomalies for each day are computed relative to the 1979 to 2014 average for that day of the year. Tickmarks on time axis refer to 1st day of year. The trend for the period 1979- present is shown in blue. Shaded areas show one and two standard deviations from the trend. Error bars indicate the uncertainty of the monthly anomaly plotted once per year.

While the Antarctic Sea Ice is gaining, the continent itself is losing ice, as is Greenland. Taylor's whole article is a half lie dedicated to deception on what is happening at both poles. A very dishonest person, indeed.

 

[Old Rocks]

Land ice affects sea level by melting, the water running off the land and into the sea. When ice sheets like Larsen B collapse, they can release the massive land glacier they are holding back. That glacier then speeds up and flows into the sea, and melts. In response, the seal level increases. This is glaciology 101. If you want anything more advanced, I'm afraid I will have to charge you for it. I'm not your teacher, and I don't work for free.

Floating

The weight of a land glacier is on the LAND, not the sea. That is, until the seaward ice sheet collapses, allowing the land glacier to spread onto the SEA. You must be really dense not to understand this.

then why do they say floating? Me, I'm not there, so I don't know. I expect those professionals discussing will accurately represent the state of it. They write floating, meaning it doesn't touch bottom already submerged occupying water volume. So, are you sure it is all land ice? or are you saying that the continent will split and fall into the ocean?

If a land glacier is not, as you claim, in contact with the land, why do glaciers contain so much rock and soil? Of course it contacts the land, dummy. And even if it did "float" on glacial water beneath, that water is on the land, not the sea, and so the weight of all of it is still on the land, not the sea. You really should stop trying to be something you are not. That is, you should stop pretending that you are a geologist, when you don't know the first thing about the science, and obviously are not very good at it.

first off, again you misrepresent what another poster stated. I think that is now in violation of the new rule in the Environment forum. So please, refrain from reposting my thoughts as yours.

I never said anything about land glaciers. NEVER. You did, not me. So please straighten that up. I'm asking nicely right now. Second, I think you are confused on where the ice sheet is floating. It extends into the ocean and it is submerged and not touching the sea floor. That's why it is floating. Does it touch land? I'm sure it does, doesn't matter though it's volume is displaced and already part of the ocean. Do you understand that? Any added ice to the ocean would indeed need to come from the land. So now that we're clear on that, what is the probability that the land ice will just slide right into the ocean, your dreams? there is absolutely no evidence to suggest any such thing except the doom and gloom of a warmist.

My goodness, not even Rupert Murdoch believes that kind of nonsense. Melt the ice shelves, and indeed, the land ice will slide into the ocean.

Warmer Water Speeds Melting of Antarctica Glaciers Study Says - WSJ

Warmer water is washing up against large swaths of the Antarctic ice sheet, accelerating the melting of glaciers from below and hastening their slide into the sea, a new study shows.

While past research pinpointed warming in spots along the Antarctic ice shelf, the new research, published Thursday in the journal Science, concludes that the warming of the waters isn’t merely local but extends for thousands of miles.

The Antarctic ice sheet, the thick layer of ice that covers the continent, contains about 70% of the world’s fresh water. Glaciers slowly deposit inland ice into the sea, a normal process that forms icebergs. The worry now is that a warming climate will accelerate this process and release a vast quantity of water, triggering a big jump in global sea levels in coming centuries.

A study published in May warned that the melting of west Antarctic glaciers has now become effectively unstoppable. Estimates suggest that if the west Antarctic ice sheet were to melt completely, it would ultimately raise the global sea level by 4.8 meters (16 feet).

“A significant fraction of the world’s population lives in coastal regions and are the ones most vulnerable to sea level rise,” said Sarah Gille, professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, who read the Science study but wasn’t involved with the research.