City-Sized Ice Shelf Breaks Free Of Antarctica 249
LeadSongDog writes "Germany's TerraSAR-X satellite is showing that the Antarctic's Pine Island ice shelf has calved a 'berg of 720 square kilometres, 'the size of Hamburg.' Angelika Humbert says 'The Western Antarctic land ice is on land which is deeper than sea level. Its "bed" tends towards the land. The danger therefore exists that these large ice masses will become unstable and will start to slide.' The article extrapolates that 'If the entire West Antarctic ice shield were to flow into the Ocean, this would lead to a global rise in sea level of around 3.3 meters.' Goodbye Florida.
FINALLY! (Score:5, Funny)
I knew those 569 acres of land on the Arizona/California border would gain some value. Just didn't think it would happen so soon. Anyone want to buy my new ocean-front property?
Re: (Score:2)
Floodmap [floodmap.net] According to this projection a 3.5 meter rise wouldn't flood much of CA.
Re: (Score:2)
Very cool web site. Good to know we will survive a 12 meter rise. Sorry Sacramento, bye bye.
Re: (Score:2)
Eventually.
Re: (Score:3)
Wait, the drunk guy doesn't like the meth guys?
Re: (Score:3)
Nope I'm holding out for the land I own at 100' above sea level in Florida to become ocean front.
You own land on Space Mountain???
Dooomed (Score:4, Funny)
Dooomed we are all doooom.
Dooooooomed!
Re:Dooomed (Score:5, Funny)
In Soviet Russia... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Dooooooomed!
Yes, in general, however those living in coastal regions will dooooom first. The rest of us will need to acclimate to some intense heat and drought before the welcome relief of doooom sets in.
let us celebrate instead (Score:5, Funny)
The world celebrates the ice shelf's newly found freedom, and hopes this will pave the way to democracy in the entire region. When asked about what the ice shelf plans to do with its newly found freedom, it humbly replied "just going to drift a few kms that way, hopefully leading the way for many others to follow."
When asked for comment, the visibly agitated Penguin Brotherhood declined to comment beyond blaming the west-sponsored Carbon Revolution.
Re: (Score:2)
We are? I better tape this flashlight to my gun, then.
Re: (Score:2)
Dooomed we are all doooom. Dooooooomed!
Well..., yes. None of us gets out alive, but if your intent is to sarcastically suggest that this event is not another in a line of well documented indicators of climate change, nice try.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm going to sing the doom song now. Doom de doom de doom...
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Pretty much, yeah. Even if this iceberg doesn't get us, and even if climate change won't, the by-now ingrained habbit of putting fingers in your ears and shitposting to drown out unpleasant facts effectively nullifies your intelligence, thus making it impossible to consider or react efficiently to any situation. Since intelligence is our sole evolutionary advantage, and since climate chance denial has made pretending stupidity fashionable, we're pretty much doomed.
Still, at least
Re: (Score:3)
And constantly blathering on about how evil we are as a whole and that we are destroying the planet and that we are causing the climate to no longer be in stasis...
Actually, the scientists and virtually all of the major groups that recognize that climate change is occurring are very much aware that the climate would be changing at a very slow rate even if humans didn't exist. In fact, they're the ones who discovered that in the first place.
That means the assumption is that the climate would never change if it weren't for the evil humans.
No it doesn't. That's a strawman argument, I've literally never seen that argument made by anyone who isn't actively denying the climate change is an issue.
That requires accepting that the climate has never changed.
No it doesn't. As previously mentioned, there are no major groups that cl
Re: (Score:2)
That toxic waste is not gone if the sea washes over it. it merely disperses in the food chain.
Re: (Score:2)
That toxic waste is not gone if the sea washes over it. it merely disperses in the food chain.
See, he's just an altruist wanting to share his with everyone else.
Re: (Score:2)
Who's this "we" you're referring to?
Dude. Invader Zim. No further explanation needed or necessary.
what? (Score:2)
>> The Western Antarctic land ice is on land which is deeper than sea level.
Umm.. isn't it impossible to have land that isn't deeper than sea level?
Re:what? (Score:5, Informative)
I think the point is that the boundary between the ice and the rock is below sea level.
Re: (Score:2)
My Minecraft home floats above the ocean. Does that count?
Re: (Score:2)
Re:what? (Score:5, Informative)
Wait what?
By definition, that is land. My guess is that you meant to ask if it is impossible to have land below sea level, and the answer is no. Much of New Orleans and Death Valley in the US are below sea level, they just happen to be surrounded by natural (and some artificial) barriers that keep the water out.
My understanding of the point is that the ice in question is standing on solid land below the ocean's surface, which means that its volume is not currently reflected by the height of the oceans today. In addition, the land is sloped towards the rest of the ocean so, should the ice in question calve off it will enter the ocean rather than simply cracking but staying put.
Re:what? (Score:4, Interesting)
Wait what?
By definition, that is land. My guess is that you meant to ask if it is impossible to have land below sea level, and the answer is no. Much of New Orleans and Death Valley in the US are below sea level, they just happen to be surrounded by natural (and some artificial) barriers that keep the water out.
My understanding of the point is that the ice in question is standing on solid land below the ocean's surface, which means that its volume is not currently reflected by the height of the oceans today. In addition, the land is sloped towards the rest of the ocean so, should the ice in question calve off it will enter the ocean rather than simply cracking but staying put.
An added issue, which has been seen in the past couple of decades in Greenland, is that if the ice calves and slides into the ocean, not only will mass previously perched on land enter the ocean, but the mass removed from the antarctic plate will cause the plate to rise significantly... causing less volume for the ocean in that area, and REALLY messing with plate tectonics.
Some people think there's a correlation between the rising landmass in Greenland and some of the recent quakes in the Pacific.
Re: (Score:2)
I also wonder if a big piece (like say a few cubic km) of ice slides in the water at few km/h. a really big tsunami ?
Re:what? (Score:5, Informative)
I also wonder if a big piece (like say a few cubic km) of ice slides in the water at few km/h. a really big tsunami ?
Yes, if that were to happen the result would be quite dramatic. But the chunk we're talking about is the leading tongue of an ice shelf that is already floating at sea level and the crack that caused this calving has been tracked since 2011 so it's not exactly a dramatic change as the media would like you to believe.
Re: (Score:2)
My understanding of the point is that the ice in question is standing on solid land below the ocean's surface, which means that its volume is not currently reflected by the height of the oceans today.
But, if it all melted, that portion of the ice which is below sea level would not contribute to an increase in sea level, because the land it was on would then be inundated with water.
Re: (Score:2)
The summary says: Its "bed" tends towards the land.
Yet you say: the land is sloped towards the rest of the ocean
Aren't those contradictory inclines? If it tends toward the land, then wouldn't gravity more likely make it collapse toward the center of the land mass and not towards the ocean?
Re: (Score:2)
Its "bed" tends towards the land. The danger therefore exists that these large ice masses will become unstable and will start to slide.
Specifically the bed tends towards the land part as that is terminology I am not familiar with.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:what? (Score:5, Insightful)
>> The Western Antarctic land ice is on land which is deeper than sea level.
Umm.. isn't it impossible to have land that isn't deeper than sea level?
If it's possible anywhere on Earth, it's surely possible on a continent that can have a "western" part despite covering all geographic longitudes.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, obviously they should have said the "northern" part of Antarctica.
Re: (Score:2)
"Below sea level" and "above sea level" are useful concepts. Don't quibble about how rock deep below Mount Everest is somehow "below sea level."
Re: (Score:2)
Umm.. isn't it impossible to have land that isn't deeper than sea level?
Lets cancel out some negatives here: Is it possible to have land that isn't deeper than sea level? Is it possible to have land that is higher than sea level? Why yes, that's entirely possible!
Re: (Score:2)
>> The Western Antarctic land ice is on land which is deeper than sea level.
Umm.. isn't it impossible to have land that isn't deeper than sea level?
It's pretty much a requirement for the land to be able to tip over [youtube.com].
Good bye Disney World (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The poet Smash Mouth said it best (Score:2, Funny)
Judging by the hole in the satellite picture
The ice we skate is getting pretty thin
The water's getting warm so you might as well swim
My world's on fire how about yours
That's the way I like it and I never get bored
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Burma Shave
How's that? (Score:5, Funny)
Could somebody translate that into Chicago-units? Here in the US we're having trouble visualizing this.
Re:How's that? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
If there were a way to move Chicago to Florida, we could solve two issues at the same time.
Re: How's that? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Could somebody translate that into Chicago-units? Here in the US we're having trouble visualizing this.
No, everyone knows you're supposed to use X times the size of Rhode Island.
Re: (Score:3)
Hamburg is about the surface area of 7,648,706,558.13 Chicago style pizzas. Or 4,598,807,355.66 New York style pizzas (which is better :-p).
Zecharia Sitchin - 12th Planet? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The size of Hamburg? (Score:3, Insightful)
Darn metric system! How many Libraries of Congress is that equivalent to?
Re: (Score:2)
2.136 million olympic swimming pools
Re: (Score:2)
How many state of Rhode Island's is that?
Re: (Score:3)
New Unit! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:New Unit! (Score:5, Funny)
Of course subdivided in smaller units, Hamburgers, of about 1/1.500.000 that size.
Re: (Score:2)
Looks like it may take approximately four Hamburg's to equal one Rhode Island.
It's a new vacation resort! (Score:2)
The Swedish people that make the ice hotel [icehotel.com] can turn this into a vacation resort!
Sea Level Map (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Sea Level Map (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
Sounds like we really need to install a drain in the ocean [xkcd.com] now.
I for one welcome our new Netherland masters.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I know there are obligatory XKCD links for Slashdot articles, but I was expecting this one... http://xkcd.com/605/ [xkcd.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Awesome link on that map.
Bummer for China! Yancheng more specifically. Also around Guangzhou. How would the resulting chaos echo politically?
Also hard-hit... Southern tip of Vietnam, north end of the Caspian Sea, Netherlands of course. And islands.
Re: (Score:2)
Large parts of the Netherlands are already below sea level, showing that that isn't necessarily a problem even for densely populated areas.
(In the case of the Netherlands, it is their own fault, however.)
Re: (Score:2)
Bloop? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Bloops and trains are specific forms of the standard bleeps, sweeps, and creeps.
Re: (Score:3)
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Sigh... Again? (Score:4, Informative)
Every year we get at least one or two pieces of ice breaking from the main shield. Happens at both poles. It's normal.
True. What's not normal is the amount of ice breaking away. Pine Island and Thwates glacier are speeding up. They're calving more ice into the ocean than before. Sure they calved before, but not as much or as often.
Time to drain the oceans! (Score:4)
Thankfully the fine folks over at xkcd pointed the way to the solution yesterday: http://what-if.xkcd.com/53/ [xkcd.com]
All we need is a portal to... anywhere not in Earths gravitational influence I guess, and we'll be set!
Re: (Score:3)
West ??? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Here's all the information you could ever want: West Antarctica [wikipedia.org].
Oh no! (Score:3)
A tiny chunk of ice (relative to the size of the world) breaks off Antarctica and we're all doomed!
It's not as though tiny chunks of ice have been breaking off Antarctica ever since it first froze, or that most of Antarctica is cooling.
Re: (Score:2)
Your analysis and your data is incorrect.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
my family in colorado thanks AGW (Score:2)
its been pretty dry there the last decade, except for this year
the lake is full and lots of water in the reservoir for drinking water from the spring snow melts
sucks for baseball (Score:2)
lots of games being rained out this year
more water in the atmosphere will play havoc with their crazy 162 game schedule
Here's my plan for Florida (Score:4, Funny)
2. Allow the person who understands what 3.3 meters of water means to move to wherever they want
3. Celebrate
Re: (Score:2)
1. Tell everyone in Florida that 3.3 meters of water is coming
2. Allow the person who understands what 3.3 meters of water means to move to wherever they want
3. Celebrate
4. Profit!
Edgar Cayce could end up being right again... (Score:2)
Smell that? (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
You mean: Tennessee.
Re:Goodbye Florida... (Score:5, Informative)
Ever hear about Mobile, Alabama?
Hint: Alabama already has a Gulf Coast....
Re: (Score:2)
Mobile Alabama is already adjacent to the sea. To flood the Florida panhandle, and thus expand Alabama's beach front to the east, you'd need between 30 and 40 meters of sea level rise. You'd need 60 meters to get rid of the florida peninsula entirely source. [firetree.net]
Re:Goodbye Florida... (Score:5, Funny)
Mobile Alabama is already adjacent to the sea.
Plus it's mobile, so it can just move inland if the sea rises.
Re:Goodbye Florida... (Score:4, Funny)
I wouldn't worry. You're already in Alabama, so it can't get much worse.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
At this point, telling everyone to use a bike to go to work and acting like some smug green idealist saying "I told you so" isn't going to fix anything so shut the hell up and learn to surf.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3)
Why are you making fun of NASA?
Re: (Score:2)
The snow birds are particularly dumb. Almost Mass dumb. Like you say they make the rednecks look like Einsteins.
Re: (Score:3)
Nothing of value would be lost if Florida suddenly was underwater permanetly. Other then a bunch of old folks who were probably near death anyway, brain dead party people aka animals, and just a bunch of ignorant and stupid people that make the rednecks in the southern usa look like einstein's in comparison.
My irony meter pegged at 11 with "einstein's."
Re: (Score:2)
Negative six. Detroit has a pretty high negative value.
Re: (Score:3)
This is probably a troll, but if you are genuinely being ignorant:
The water rises when the piece of ice breaks off and enters the ocean, not when it later melts.
Before it was sitting on land and displacing less than 90% of it's volume of water (it would be displacing 0% if the land was above the ocean surface, but it is non-zero in this case because the land is below the surface). When floating it is displacing 90% of it's volume. The difference means the extra displaced water has to go somewhere.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Either Jesus will come back and end everything before climate change makes a difference, or God will never let us hose His perfect creation.
The trouble is, there are folks in Congress who believe this and set policy based on it...
Maybe it's just time to build Noah's Ark II.
Douglas Adams, meet Anonymous... (Score:4, Funny)
Either Jesus will come back and end everything before climate change makes a difference, or God will never let us hose His perfect creation.
The trouble is, there are folks in Congress who believe this and set policy based on it...
Maybe it's just time to build Noah's Ark II.
Also known as the /b/ Ark.