WEST ANTARCTIC ICE MELT IS NOW ‘UNSTOPPABLE

[tef]

Glaciers in western Antarctica are melting at an “unstoppable” rate that could cause worldwide sea levels to rise far quicker than previously thought, two groups of scientists said Monday.

Teams of researchers from NASA and the University of California said the ice sheets will continue to retreat for decades or even centuries to come, regardless of any human effort to reduce carbon emissions a primary cause of climate change ’ though warming temperatures could accelerate the process.

The new data could mean that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) prediction last month of athree-foot sea level rise by 2100 may have to be increased by as much as four feet, the studies said.

The reports represent the crossing of a “critical threshold” in understanding Antarctic ice sheets, said researchers at NASA and the University of California at Irvine who were behind the studies, scheduled for publication this week in the journals Science and Geophysical Letters.

Conclusions in the reports are based on 40 years of observation of the rapidly melting Amundsen Sea area of West Antarctica. Six glaciers in the region have entered an “unstoppable” retreat that has “passed the point of no return,” the researchers said.

“It has been compared to a wine bottle that has a cork at the front, where the cork represents the ice shelf,” said Eric Rignot, a professor of earth system science at the UC Irvine and a glaciologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

“We’re at the point where we can say the bottle has been uncorked,” he said at a news conference Monday.

The scientists said they called the glacial retreat “unstoppable” because they now know from on-the-ground observations that the topography of the land under the glaciers will do nothing to stop the melting.

Researchers said a hill or a mountain would be necessary to recork the bottle, but their studies show there are no such formations. Instead, the ground drops off, putting the glaciers even farther below sea level and exposing more of the ice to warming waters, which could accelerate their retreat.

West Antarctic glaciers sit on land largely below sea level, unlike those in the eastern part of the continent, making them more susceptible to melting from the warming temperatures of the ocean.

The melting of West Antarctic glaciers could have major consequences worldwide, the scientists said, and could result in an additional 1.2 meters, or about four feet, of sea level rise (SLR) in addition to what had already been predicted in other studies, like the IPCC report.

“This part of Antarctica is undergoing enormous change,” Sridhar Anandakrishnan, a professor of geosciences at Pennsylvania State University at University Park, said at the news conference Monday.

Warming ocean temperatures — as opposed to air temperatures — are driving the irreversible retreat of the West Antarctic glaciers, the reports said.

“It is the temperature of the water that is in this case eating away at the glaciers’ feet” and causing their retreat, Anandakrishnan said.

Warming waters are pulled toward the poles by wind patterns that scientists said have been strengthening over the past two decades. Depletion of the ozone layer over Antarctica also contributes to accelerated melting, the reports said.

It is becoming clear that Antarctic ice will have a larger role in SLR in the decades ahead, the scientists said. Previous SLR estimates have not taken into account Antarctic melting because of lack of data.

“Predictions of SLR will have to change upwards because of this,” Anandakrishnan said, adding that the redistribution of West Antarctic glacial mass could have worldwide implications. “People don’t realize how big these critters are,” he said.

America.aljazeera.com

[pedanticwench]

We're pretty much fucked.

[gretchenindisguise]

Whatever dudes. Earth cycles, cold and hot. No big.

[Michelle]

May 12, 2014 23:23:14 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

Whatever dudes. Earth cycles, cold and hot. No big.

Tell that to the dinosaurs.

[gretchenindisguise]

May 12, 2014 23:26:59 GMT -5 Michelle said:

May 12, 2014 23:23:14 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

Whatever dudes. Earth cycles, cold and hot. No big.

Tell that to the dinosaurs.

Eh, dinosaurs were dumb. It's really no wonder they went extinct. 

[meshaliuknits]

Damnit

Sent from my EVO

[josieposy]

Hey now. Dinosaurs were not able to defeat meteors.

We, on the other hand, have Bruce Willis.

ETA: I'm sorry. I meant asteroids.

[gretchenindisguise]

May 12, 2014 23:43:23 GMT -5 josieposy said:

Hey now. Dinosaurs were not able to defeat meteors.

We, on the other hand, have Bruce Willis.

ETA: I'm sorry. I meant asteroids.

Yes, Bruce Willis with Aerosmith songs in the background = unstoppable. 

We got this. 

[Michelle]

May 12, 2014 23:29:44 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

May 12, 2014 23:26:59 GMT -5 Michelle said:

Tell that to the dinosaurs.

Eh, dinosaurs were dumb. It's really no wonder they went extinct. 

One might argue the same about humans.

It doesn't reflect well on our intelligence that there are so many signs of things we should change that we ignore because it's inconvenient... right now anyway.

[gretchenindisguise]

May 12, 2014 23:48:32 GMT -5 Michelle said:

May 12, 2014 23:29:44 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

Eh, dinosaurs were dumb. It's really no wonder they went extinct. 

One might argue the same about humans.

It doesn't reflect well on our intelligence that there are so many signs of things we should change that we ignore because it's inconvenient... right now anyway.

But Bruce Willis and Aerosmith.

[bluestreet]

May 12, 2014 23:47:23 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

May 12, 2014 23:43:23 GMT -5 josieposy said:

Hey now. Dinosaurs were not able to defeat meteors.

We, on the other hand, have Bruce Willis.

ETA: I'm sorry. I meant asteroids.

Yes, Bruce Willis with Aerosmith songs in the background = unstoppable. 

We got this. 

More importantly, Aerosmith songs playing while Steven Tyler's daughter is humping her boyfriend. Because everyone wants to listen to daddy singing when they're having sex!

[ttt]

May 12, 2014 23:48:32 GMT -5 Michelle said:

May 12, 2014 23:29:44 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

Eh, dinosaurs were dumb. It's really no wonder they went extinct. 

One might argue the same about humans.

It doesn't reflect well on our intelligence that there are so many signs of things we should change that we ignore because it's inconvenient... right now anyway.

But jobs! The economy!

[summer]

May 13, 2014 2:23:40 GMT -5 ttt said:

May 12, 2014 23:48:32 GMT -5 Michelle said:

One might argue the same about humans.

It doesn't reflect well on our intelligence that there are so many signs of things we should change that we ignore because it's inconvenient... right now anyway.

But jobs! The economy!

Even if it isn't human caused...who cares?!  Shouldn't we still be advocating saving, conserving, rationing where we can.  Why on earth do we just continue to ravage resources just because we believe it's not our fault.  WE STILL NEED TO SAVE THE WATER WE HAVE!  

These politicians are going to make me crazy. 

[josieposy]

You know the fact that we haven't been able to find a way to improve the economy while focusing on our planet problems proves just how dumb we really are.

[aurora]

Armageddon (the movie) is clearly the most relevant educational film on the topic, but if you're looking for some pretty (spectacular) images of glaciers I recommend Chasing Ice on Netflix. You can see a couple of time lapses at the Extreme Ice Survey web site extremeicesurvey.org.

[josieposy]

I'm sorry everyone. Our species is too stupid to live.

Nacho hats for all.

[omgzombies]

Beach front property, here I come!

[pixy0stix]

::kicks rocks::

I posted this in one of my climate change round-up posts last week. No one bit. (I'm saying this TIC.)

Really, we'll all be dead anyway (meaning the human species) before this kicks in.

[josieposy]

Aww sorry pixy. I didn't get a chance to get through that thread and then I forgot about it.

[msmerymac]

What I don't get about those who say, "But it's cyclical! No biggie!" is... you realize that even if this were not man-made and a "natural" cycle, it's still going to be devastating, right? So what do you suggest we do in order to ensure the continuation of life on the planet?

[jaylea]

This stuff keeps me up at night.

The Vice episode on the ice shelf was great, but I was getting panicky watching it.

I hope the idiots get their heads out of their asses soon with their "I just shoveled a foot of global warming!" Nonsense.

[carowen]

May 13, 2014 9:59:40 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

What I don't get about those who say, "But it's cyclical! No biggie!" is... you realize that even if this were not man-made and a "natural" cycle, it's still going to be devastating, right? So what do you suggest we do in order to ensure the continuation of life on the planet?

From what I can tell, there is a large group of people who don't think it will be devastating. Or at least, not to them somehow? I liken it to a teens inability to realize that they too can die in car wreck from texting or get pregnant from sex. People are notoriously bad at understanding and properly applying risk so to them the "risks" of changing climate aren't quite convincing enough to do something that they perceive will harm businesses/economy/jobs and/or effect their lifestyle.

[gretchenindisguise]

May 13, 2014 9:59:40 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

What I don't get about those who say, "But it's cyclical! No biggie!" is... you realize that even if this were not man-made and a "natural" cycle, it's still going to be devastating, right? So what do you suggest we do in order to ensure the continuation of life on the planet?

Jesus.

No but really. I think they think the end of the world is a-ok, because Jesus.

[smock]

Hope you don't mind sipping salt water, Rubio!

[secretlyevil]

The human race deserves extinction.

[aurora]

May 13, 2014 10:17:28 GMT -5 secretlyevil said:

The human race deserves extinction.

Some days I feel this way.

[pixy0stix]

May 13, 2014 10:29:33 GMT -5 @majorwife said:

whats the projected end date for us? should i really worry about paying off debt and losing weight? 2043?

30 years before the wars start. Tack on another 10 before society completely shuts down.

[PinkSquirrel]

When I was in Iceland in the fall. They were able to point out where glaciers were a few years ago vs now and it was horrifying to see.

[notsocreepylurker]

Soooooo I'm with Perky -- should I even bother trying to lose weight/have WLS? I am 38 - don't plan to live past 75 or so.....

[carowen]

May 13, 2014 10:31:09 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

May 13, 2014 10:29:33 GMT -5 @majorwife said:

whats the projected end date for us? should i really worry about paying off debt and losing weight? 2043?

30 years before the wars start. Tack on another 10 before society completely shuts down.

This is horribly depressing.

I don't know if I have it in me to survive in a post-apocalyptic world, but definitely not going to make it as an old. Unless some kindly young men take to protecting me and my fellow oldz a la walking dead?   

ETA - in an attempt to spin this news positively, what you're really saying is refinance to a 40yr mortgage in ~10years and party it up big?