Hey Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma.....NASA: 10,000-year-old Antarctic ice shelf will disappear by 2020

[spanone]

(CNN)One of the last remaining sections of Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf is dramatically weakening, according to a new NASA study.

The study predicts that what remains of the once-prominent ice shelf, a thick floating platform of ice, most likely will "disintegrate completely" before the end of this decade

Ice shelves are extensions of glaciers and function as barriers. Their disappearance means glaciers potentially will diminish more quickly, as well, increasing the pace at which global sea levels rise.

A team led by Ala Khazendar of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, found evidence of the ice shelf flowing faster and becoming more fragmented. The flow is creating large cracks in the ice shelf.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/16/us/antarctica-larsen-b-ice-shelf-to-disappear/index.html

[shenmue]

1. Someone once called him "R-Asshole"

Which was accurate.

[former9thward]

2. Also from NASA.

Antarctic Sea Ice Reaches New Record Maximum



Sea ice surrounding Antarctica reached a new record high extent this year, covering more of the southern oceans than it has since scientists began a long-term satellite record to map sea ice extent in the late 1970s. The upward trend in the Antarctic, however, is only about a third of the magnitude of the rapid loss of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean.

The new Antarctic sea ice record reflects the diversity and complexity of Earth’s environments, said NASA researchers. Claire Parkinson, a senior scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, has referred to changes in sea ice coverage as a microcosm of global climate change. Just as the temperatures in some regions of the planet are colder than average, even in our warming world, Antarctic sea ice has been increasing and bucking the overall trend of ice loss.

“The planet as a whole is doing what was expected in terms of warming. Sea ice as a whole is decreasing as expected, but just like with global warming, not every location with sea ice will have a downward trend in ice extent,” Parkinson said.

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/antarctic-sea-ice-reaches-new-record-maximum

[xocet]

4. Interesting post. What does it mean to you? Are you attempting to offer a counterpoint? n/t

[former9thward]

6. It means the earth is far more complicated

than a ice shelf melting. Everything has to be looked at.

[xocet]

8. So, are you saying that because the Earth is a complicated system and because all must be examined,

until all is examined, human-caused climate change should not be taken as the most likely, significant cause of environmental changes like the Larsen B Ice Shelf melting?

[Octafish]

3. More Fracking!

Nookyoolar, tew!

[moondust]

5. Possibly Public Enemy #1.

Looking at the big picture.

[HereSince1628]

7. But, you see, THAT will be an oceanic weather event...

and we all know weather is NOT climate!

[Blue_Tires]

9. ttt