Giant Iceberg to Collide with Glacier 423
OECD writes "NASA reports that a massive 100-mile-long iceberg is on a collision course (movie) with a floating glacier near the McMurdo Research Station in Antarctica. NASA scientists expect a collision to occur no later than January 15, 2005."
This is important because... (Score:5, Informative)
The ice tongue that the iceberg is going to hit is the ocean end of a glacier. If that is knocked off by the collision that could be like pulling the cork from a bottle. It may cause the glacier to discharge into the more rapidly than it otherwise would, raising sea levels.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg184
Re:apocalypse , now? (Score:2, Informative)
Which, IIRC threatens to bring at least a couple of the horsemen of the Apocolypse. Famine and Death being the two I immediately think of. Not to worry about Armageddon itself, though. That battle will occur seven years after the believers are taken away.
So, no, this is not Armageddon. However, it may be a sign of the Apocolypse (the non-Larry Wall kind). Get to know some Christians, if they are all missing at once, prepare for 3.5 years of good times, then 3.5 years of hell on earth.
Re:That's why it's an article (Score:2, Informative)
Fresh water entering the antarctic isn't a problem, but in the arctic it could switch off the gulf stream and mess up the weather all over the atlantic.
In case of slashdotting, Mirror here (Score:5, Informative)
Re:This is important because... (Score:5, Informative)
Remember: the North Pole is all ice and no land, but the South Pole is a pretty big landmass with the ice on top of it.
Re:Ooooh 300 million tons (Score:3, Informative)
It was estimated to be 70% of the annual 2500 giga-tonne ice output from the Ross shelf. That's 1750000 million tonnes!
(note that a metric tonne is spelled differently than an imperial ton.)
for the tin-foil hats that won't RTFA (Score:2, Informative)
Part of the natural cycle for this. Yes, things are melting. Yes, things are breaking off. But not all that melts or breaks off is a sign of the end of the world. See, what happens is that ice expands, and...well, if you can't read an article, then I doubt you'd understand.
Re:apocalypse , now? (Score:2, Informative)
Nope. It can't possibly be hotter than 444.6 C. See this [john316.com] for proof.
Re:So? (Score:3, Informative)
To be even more silly... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Ai chingawa... (Score:3, Informative)
As far as I know this is only clearly significant for the interior of Antartica. I'm not sure what is happening on average around the edges of Antartica, but I know in at least some areas (e.g. Ross Ice Shelf) they see clear warming and diminishing ice.