Melt Rate Of N. America's Largest, Longest Glacier Faster Than Expected - Detroit Free Press

[hatrack]

The largest and longest glacier in North America is melting faster than previously believed, releasing an enormous amount of water each year into the Gulf of Alaska. So says the Ann Arbor-based Michigan Tech Research Institute, which used sensors on Alaska's 120-mile-long Bering Glacier and satellite imagery to reach its findings, released Friday.

The research found that the glacier is releasing about 30 cubic kilometers of water a year. By comparison, the entire volume of Lake St. Clair is about 4 cubic kilometers.

Researchers wouldn't speculate on whether the glacier's retreat is caused by a long-term trend -- such as global warming -- or part of a natural cycle, but the results suggest conditions that would affect currents, the climate and aquatic life in the northern Pacific.

Institute codirector Robert Shuchman said Friday that the melt rate could also suggest that Alaska's glaciers could contribute to the world's oceans an amount of fresh water rivaling that of Greenland, where melting has raised concerns of worldwide climate change.

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http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070512/NEWS06/705120336/1008

[Dead_Parrot]

1. Who'd have thunk it. nt

[Systematic Chaos]

2. But you have your solar roof --

-- right?

:grr:

[Dead_Parrot]

3. If I did have $40k to blow...

...a huge slab of semiconductor made from either hardwood trees or coke (depending on the Si smelter), doped with toxic compounds, that only works for 1/4 of the day, and may not even return more energy that it took to build, would not be high on my list.