Antarctic glaciers surge to ocean

[Pale Blue Dot]

Source: BBC News

UK scientists working in Antarctica have found some of the clearest evidence yet of instabilities in the ice of part of West Antarctica. If the trend continues, they say, it could lead to a significant rise in global sea level.

...

Throughout the 1990s, according to satellite measurements, the glacier was accelerating by around 1% a year. Julian Scott's sensational finding this season is that it now seems to have accelerated by 7% in a single season, sending more and more ice into the ocean.

"The measurements from last season seem to show an incredible acceleration, a rate of up to 7%. That is far greater than the accelerations they were getting excited about in the 1990s."

The reason does not seem to be warming in the surrounding air.

One possible culprit could be a deep ocean current that is channelled onto the continental shelf close to the mouth of the glacier. There is not much sea ice to protect it from the warm water, which seems to be undercutting the ice and lubricating its flow.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7261171.stm

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We are really screwed, and much sooner than anyone anticipated.

[XemaSab]

1. .

[billyoc]

2. I live on the 22nd floor of a high rise in Manhattan.

Suck it, polar bears! :rofl:


j/k :cry:

[johnnypneumatic]

4. Manhattan, the new Venice

check out the new Lexus gondola, it's sweet

[AndyTiedye]

5. Fins and a Snorkel Should do for Getting Through the Lobby

[Ian David]

10. Tidal surge will wash the foundation out from under your buidling.

Or seawater will eventually corrode the steel support beams.

[billyoc]

12. I was kidding, but as it turns out this is a concrete building sitting on granite.

:hi:

[dysfunctional press]

15. steel reinforced concrete, no doubt...and probably not designed for immersion in sea water...

it probably won't fare well, when(not if) the time comes.

[Javaman]

21. It will fall before that...

if it's over a subway system. The subways will fill up first. The exposed steel I beams will rust and collapse.

47 million gallons of water are pumped out of the subway system in New York on a daily basis just to prevent what I state above.

Check out he book, "A world without us", it has all sorts of bizarre scary tidbits like that.

[dysfunctional press]

22. "aftermath: population zero" coming up march 9 on the Natty G channel...

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/aftermath/

which actually looks an AWFUL LOT like the very recent show on the His-Story channel: "Life After People"

http://www.history.com/minisites/life_after_people##

both shows probably owe a lot of their existence to the book you mention.

[Delphinus]

26. I just read that book, Javaman,

and it truly amazed me - I had NO idea. In fact, when they talked about how my 50+ year old house would be taken over, it made me wonder if it was happening (in some small parts) already!

It was an "interesting" book - the way nature took over was a real eye opener.

[BearSquirrel2]

13. Long before that ...

Long before that all the utilities in your building will fail since they all come from the basement.

[truthisfreedom]

3. The crash of home values in this country will be quickly reversed when the coasts become

uninhabitable. At that point, it will be clear exactly why the sub-prime setup took place. The banks WANT the land... as much as possible.

[mihalevich]

6. It's true that the Antarctic temperatures

have not risen like the Arctic. Must be the ocean.

[trthnd4jstc]

7. How about an Underwater Berm to retrain the Ocean's Currents from

Undercutting the Glacier. I know it will destroy some of the wildlife there, but may help out more than what would get damaged. I think that we need to start working on a global scale to counteract the effects of Global Warming.

[mihalevich]

9. That might be too large of a project

I imagine it would be like creating a small mountain range underwater. There is a climate feature around the Antarctic that is currently keeping the warming climate from interfering with it's climate. If this breaks down, the Antarctic would start warming.

[paparush]

8. Saw A Bumper Sticker - Probably 10 Years Ago -

"Learn to Kayak, 'cause when the ice caps melt, you'll need a way to get around."

[bemildred]

11. Did they HAVE to say "surge"?

How about: "Antarctic ice movement spikes."
Or "Antarctic ice increasingly declining."

[Quantess]

23. The surge is working.

:crazy:

[Xenotime]

14. Why the fuck aren't we doing something to stop this.

[Megahurtz]

16. Big Oil is too greedy. n/t

[damntexdem]

17. Oh, so the surge IS working!

Well, it's the only one that is.

[GregW]

18. Learn to swim, see you down in Arizona Bay

:eyes:

[damntexdem]

19. "Where will you go when there is no San Francisco?"

"Better get ready to tie up the boat in Idaho."

[olddad56]

24. Auburn Bay.

[FVZA_Colonel]

25. I just can't wait until the new beaches of Western Washington are the base of the Cascades.

:sarcasm:

[The Stranger]

20. We are so completely fucked.

Nature is so complex there is no way to anticipate all of the changes that then create a feedback loop, creating more changes.