Huge Chunk of Ice Breaks Off of Antarctica

[Red Baron 0]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A chunk of Antarctic ice about seven times the size of Manhattan suddenly collapsed, putting an even greater portion of glacial ice at risk, scientists said Tuesday.

 

 

Scientists flocked to take pictures and shoot video after a massive chunk of the Wilkins ice shelf collapsed in Antarctica.

 

1 of 2 Satellite images show the runaway disintegration of a 160-square-mile chunk in western Antarctica, which started February 28. It was the edge of the Wilkins ice shelf and has been there for hundreds, maybe 1,500 years.

 

This is the result of global warming, said British Antarctic Survey scientist David Vaughan.

 

Because scientists noticed satellite images within hours, they diverted satellite cameras and even flew an airplane over the ongoing collapse for rare pictures and video.

 

"It's an event we don't get to see very often," said Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado. "The cracks fill with water and slice off and topple... That gets to be a runaway situation."

 

While icebergs naturally break away from the mainland, collapses like this are unusual but are happening more frequently in recent decades, Vaughan said. The collapse is similar to what happens to hardened glass when it is smashed with a hammer, he said.

 

The rest of the Wilkins ice shelf, which is about the size of Connecticut, is holding on by a narrow beam of thin ice. Scientists worry that it too may collapse. Larger, more dramatic ice collapses occurred in 2002 and 1995.

 

Vaughan had predicted the Wilkins shelf would collapse about 15 years from now.

 

Scientists said they are not concerned about a rise in sea level from the latest event in Antarctica, but say it's a sign of worsening global warming.

 

Such occurrences are "more indicative of a tipping point or trigger in the climate system," said Sarah Das, a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

 

So about this Global Warming issue...

[Kinetic 0]

It's a liberal fantasy. Who cares about a glacier, anyway? Come on. Were you going to build a house on that glacier or something? Furthermore, if so-called "scientists" were able to somehow link this to "global warming," I'm fairly certain that AL GORE'S LIMOUSINE idling in front of the Academy Awards didn't help matters any.

[2GOLD 0]

 

 

You know though, this gives a great argument to any man who doesn't want kids!

"HOW CAN YOU WANT KIDS?!?! THINK OF THE WORLD THEY'LL GET, IT'S A DEATH SENTENCE! HOW CAN YOU DO THAT TO SOMEONE?!?!"

 

This is all kinds of screwed up news truthfully.

[Guest ForumPro]

HUUUUUUUUUH??????????????

[Guest Awkward Lapdance]

Fucked up, dude. That shit is just fucked. up.

[Guest panthermatt7]

It's a liberal fantasy. Who cares about a glacier, anyway? Come on. Were you going to build a house on that glacier or something? Furthermore, if so-called "scientists" were able to somehow link this to "global warming," I'm fairly certain that AL GORE'S LIMOUSINE idling in front of the Academy Awards didn't help matters any.

 

You sound exactly like my father, who listens to Rush Limbaugh.

 

Neither of them are very smart.

 

What does that make you?

[Guest panthermatt7]

Double post, my bad.

[Guest ForumPro]

Is there a way in some respect they can say they brung back the glacier and reattached it? Maybe if it's not too far away from Antartica yet they can figure out a way to still tow it back to the mainland and freeze it back into place. I've seen this done before with smaller forms of ice, so they'd just need larger machinery. I'm scare d: (

[Guest Awkward Lapdance]

Man, now I know your clowning, FP. Cuz it's like how are you gonna move that ice, yknow? It's got to way like a ton. You'd have to get like whales and shit to move it. Actually, that sounds pretty cool.

[EricMM 0]

The frustrating thing is that the goalline on the Global Warming issue keeps getting moved.

 

At first there was no such thing.

 

Now it's happening, but it's natural.

 

Obviously I've made a big deal out of it, but by all indications it's actually happening faster than we predicted.

 

And it won't stop right away, no matter what we do.

 

Come on guys.

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0]

I hope the IRL Waterworld turns out to be as sweet as the movie version.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I don't know. Honestly, there is a great deal of evidence that glacial ice levels have moved north and south through the entire history of our planet. When ice receded from the upper U.S. after creating the Great Lakes, was that too global warming? There are environmental impacts, but we have so little environmental data that it is difficult to prove much with it.

[godthedog 0]

It's a liberal fantasy. Who cares about a glacier, anyway? Come on. Were you going to build a house on that glacier or something? Furthermore, if so-called "scientists" were able to somehow link this to "global warming," I'm fairly certain that AL GORE'S LIMOUSINE idling in front of the Academy Awards didn't help matters any.

 

You sound exactly like my father, who listens to Rush Limbaugh.

 

Neither of them are very smart.

 

What does that make you?

 

context is everything, sir.

[Guest ForumPro]

Maybe there's a way that there's some sort of aspect to this that can be benefitial. Maybe we can use the extra water for hydralectric energy, or send it through water reclamation plants that strip the waste matter out and turn it into fertilizer alongside clean water. I learned about this in my industrial technology exploratory module last year, and it was in a lot of ways a pretty fascinating point.

[tekcop 0]

...has been there for hundreds, maybe 1,500 years.

Since when did that become a long time when talking about the planet?

[ZGangsta 0]

I for one am going to wait to hear from Glen Beck on this.

[Kinetic 0]

You sound exactly like my father, who listens to Rush Limbaugh.

 

Neither of them are very smart.

 

What does that make you?

 

A reasonable person. If you actually knew ANYTHING about what you're talking about, you'd realize that there's NO (or at best VERY LITTLE) of your beloved "scientific evidence" to suggest that what's happening is anything OTHER than NATURAL. But if you and Al Gore and all you other simpering liberal nitwits want to go live in yurts in the forest, far be it from me to stop you.

[Vigo 0]

...has been there for hundreds, maybe 1,500 years.

Since when did that become a long time when talking about the planet?

 

Creationists believe the Earth is 6000 years old so that would be a long time for them.

 

[snuffbox 0]

Snowed plenty here, though.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

It snowed the other day, global warming must be fake.

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0]

I blame the Kyoto Treaty for snow in March.

[David Blazenwing 0]

I hope the IRL Waterworld turns out to be as sweet as the movie version.

 

We'll all have boats instead of cars... it'll be like Zelda: Wind Waker without the cartoony-style look.

[EricMM 0]

Recall, then, that all the sailing in Wind Waker was HORRIBLE

[David Blazenwing 0]

Recall, then, that all the sailing in Wind Waker was HORRIBLE

 

But but but... if someone cuts you off, you can have a cannon fight with them!

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

Bits have been falling off for decades though, why the sudden love about this piece?

[haws bah gawd 0]

GLOBAL WARMING! WE DIDN'T LISTEN!

 

Just gives the environmental hippies something to boast about.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Trenchant analysis in this thread.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Trenchant analysis in this thread.

 

What else were you expecting?

 

I don't know...I believe global warming is real, but to what extent? I have no idea. One group of scientists vehmently proclaim that it is happening very quickly and is man made, while the other side accuses the other of using "junk science" and says that it is happening slowly, and is more due to natural phenomena. I'm not a scientist, and not going to pretend to be one. Besides, it doesn't matter what I think or do, because our government (and others) has to decide to actually do something about it for anything to change. It doesn't matter what I think about global warming, ultimately, either way.

[CheesalaIsGood 0]

Good I needed some ice for my drink.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Trenchant analysis in this thread.

 

What else were you expecting?

 

I don't know...I believe global warming is real, but to what extent? I have no idea. One group of scientists vehmently proclaim that it is happening very quickly and is man made, while the other side accuses the other of using "junk science" and says that it is happening slowly, and is more due to natural phenomena.

 

Yep, half say that it's anthropogenic & the other half say it's not. Exactly. Nothing to see here.