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cold hard facts
Mar. 20th, 2002 01:46 pmHere are some random facts picked up from yesterday's new stories and a little bit of research.
Boston.com had some nice shots yesterday of an ice shelf in Antarctica receding. The article said in the last month 500 million billion tons of ice had dropped off the ice sheet.(see note at bottom) The average temperature in that part of Antarctica has increased by 4.5 degrees F in the last 50 years. Meanwhile the average temperature in the Arctic deserts is actually falling (1 degree F in 14 years).
In the same article there was a discussion of the West Antarctic Ice Shelf (WAIS). Scientists have feared that it may thin and break up. Something else altogether has happened. The ice flows or rivers that cause the shelf to push outward have slowed or stopped. This means the shelf isn't getting thinner. However, with the natural calving of icebergs off one side and the lack of ice flows causing it to grow, I would think that it's total area should be shrinking.
In an article at CNN.com there was the report of an iceberg the size of New Jersey dropping off of another part of Antarctica.
By this point you're probably wondering why I noticed this. A few years ago I saw a documentary talking about ocean currents. The ocean current that keeps much of Europe temperate is part of what has been termed the Atlantic Conveyor. This moves water north past the Americas takes a turn in the Atlantic and gives Europe some heat then drops deep and heads south again.
There is some debate about how it all works, but one thing is agreed upon, salinity (density) of the water is what allows these currents to happen.
It is also pretty much agreed upon that if this thermohaline conveyor were to stop or slow it would notably change the climate around the Atlantic. Notice, I said climate, not weather.
Note: there may be some conversion problems in this number. The English have different ways of looking at a billion than we do. After doing some math and digging around a bit I think the "American" versions of this number would be 500 billion tons or about 125 trillion gallons or 125 cubic miles of ice. That's enough to cover the planet with a whopping 1/20th of an inch of rain. We could use that in New Hampshire, but we don't need all of it, it would cover the entire state in more than 71 feet of water.
Boston.com had some nice shots yesterday of an ice shelf in Antarctica receding. The article said in the last month 500 million billion tons of ice had dropped off the ice sheet.(see note at bottom) The average temperature in that part of Antarctica has increased by 4.5 degrees F in the last 50 years. Meanwhile the average temperature in the Arctic deserts is actually falling (1 degree F in 14 years).
In the same article there was a discussion of the West Antarctic Ice Shelf (WAIS). Scientists have feared that it may thin and break up. Something else altogether has happened. The ice flows or rivers that cause the shelf to push outward have slowed or stopped. This means the shelf isn't getting thinner. However, with the natural calving of icebergs off one side and the lack of ice flows causing it to grow, I would think that it's total area should be shrinking.
In an article at CNN.com there was the report of an iceberg the size of New Jersey dropping off of another part of Antarctica.
By this point you're probably wondering why I noticed this. A few years ago I saw a documentary talking about ocean currents. The ocean current that keeps much of Europe temperate is part of what has been termed the Atlantic Conveyor. This moves water north past the Americas takes a turn in the Atlantic and gives Europe some heat then drops deep and heads south again.
There is some debate about how it all works, but one thing is agreed upon, salinity (density) of the water is what allows these currents to happen.
It is also pretty much agreed upon that if this thermohaline conveyor were to stop or slow it would notably change the climate around the Atlantic. Notice, I said climate, not weather.
Note: there may be some conversion problems in this number. The English have different ways of looking at a billion than we do. After doing some math and digging around a bit I think the "American" versions of this number would be 500 billion tons or about 125 trillion gallons or 125 cubic miles of ice. That's enough to cover the planet with a whopping 1/20th of an inch of rain. We could use that in New Hampshire, but we don't need all of it, it would cover the entire state in more than 71 feet of water.
