Academia, Environment, International, Politics, Society

New Studies: Global Warming To Cause Much Faster Melting In Antarctica With Possible Rise of 23 Feet In Sea Levels

earth-screensaver_largeThe news continues to grow worse over global warming. The Peru meeting revealed new research showing that time is running out for humanity to act on climate change. Now to new reports indicate that we may have underestimate the rate of loss on the huge ice sheet of West Antarctica — new calculations under global warming could mean a rise in global sea levels of as much as 23 feet. That would create massive changes in the coasts of the world.

The research indicates that prior computer modeling efforts did not capture the full dynamics of what is happening with these ice sheets during global warming. The difference is immense when one considers that the Greenland ice sheet is 656,000 square miles long with an average thickness of over a mile. If that ice melts at a faster rate, it would result in costly global changes, including the loss of cities and islands.

The more complex models shows that the dimensions of the topography and melting factors should result in a much faster meltdown.

The first new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by scientists at the University at Buffalo and several other institutions, used laser altimetry to measure almost 100,000 elevation points atop the Greenland ice sheet. The result is confirmation of a much higher melting process of about .68 millimeters of annual sea level rise rather than the previously estimated .29 millimeters per year.

A second student in Nature Climate Change by Amber Leeson from the University of Leeds looked at “supraglacial lakes,” which form atop the Greenland ice sheet. These lakes suddenly vanish through “moulins,” or crevasses, that plunge to depths far below the ice sheet. The study indicates that these lakes (which hold greater heat) will become more extensive with global warming and, through draining, accelerate melting.

There of course remain those who refuse to accept the vast majority of scientific researcher and experts on the fact of climate change. However, the concern is that we are passing a redline that divides an unpleasant world from an uninhabitable one.)

The result from Lima is being heralded as an improvement in securing agreement but the details show a substantial lack of consensus, including a refusal of countries to agree on a uniform way of accounting for emissions cuts. That is a critical issue since goals are meaningless if there is not uniform measuring of cuts. It was still more productive than past meetings but scientists warn that time is of the essence as the world continues to debate the most basic elements of a system of reduction of emissions.

Source: Washington Post

164 thoughts on “New Studies: Global Warming To Cause Much Faster Melting In Antarctica With Possible Rise of 23 Feet In Sea Levels”

  1. What confused, bewildered right wingers seem to have a very difficult time grasping is that the foundation of global warming theory is a scientific fact that was solidly proven over 150 years ago. They like to pretend that global warming is some brand new thing that thousands of scientists all over the world just suddenly decided to conspire over, in order to dupe the world. Why they would do this is unknown to anyone but the confused, bewildered little right wingers, I suppose.

    Global warming theory is based upon the greenhouse effect, which states that in a given closed loop environment, if you increase the concentration of greenhouse gases, such as CO2, there will be a rise in temperature, because those gases will prevent solar energy from escaping into space. Walk into a greenhouse in July and see if you can notice whether or not it’s warmer inside than out. It’s no grand secret, nor is it the least bit difficult to understand, unless you’re a confused, bewildered little right winger.

    So, we know and have known for over 150 years now, that increasing the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere will lead to warming. We also know that the concentration of CO2 has risen dramatically since we began burning fossil fuels (ancient, previously buried carbon). And, thanks to the fact that CO2 from the burning of carbon fuels has a unique molecular marker that’s different than naturally occurring CO2, we know that the increase is caused by our burning of fossil fuels.

    That’s it, in a nutshell. Increased concentrations of CO2 causes warming, and we have caused the increase in CO2 concentration. We’re not yet even discussing methane, btw, which is 25-30 times as potent as CO2 as a greenhouse gas, and is being released in massive amounts as the permafrost around the arctic thaws, thanks to global warming.

    Oh, and global warming has not “paused” as some confused, bewildered little right wingers like to pretend. 1998 was an extreme outlier year, in terms of temperature. If you look at NASA or NOAA temp graphs, you’ll see that from 1998 to today, there’s very little upward movement, but you’ll also see that, prior to and after 1998, there is a steady upward movement in temps. There has been no pause. 2014 will likely be the warmest year on record, which will make it the 14th year in a row of record high global temps. The 15th is 1998. As for months, we’re in somewhere around month 350 in a row of record high monthly temps. So much for the “global warming has paused” BS.

  3. Unsurprisingly, McKibben is lying. After the year 2000, NOAA and NASA decided the official temperature records from the 1930s that had stood for nearly 70 years needed to be adjusted downward. They justified the adjustments in part by claiming they believe the instrumentation used to measure the temperature back then was inaccurate. So they invented some process called “homogenization” to adjust the official record lower. If they used the unmolested records that had been in place for nearly 70 years, certain years during the decade of the 1930s would still be far warmer than the false “records” of today.

    https://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2014/06/23/noaanasa-dramatically-altered-us-temperatures-after-the-year-2000/

    Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology adjusted their official temperatures downward, too. The difference is that their press did its job and told the public the scientists were altering the official records.

    Our press doesn’t care.

  4. Mike Appleton:

    Well, may I not need to say, but will anyway, I am not religious in any sense of the word. Not fundamentalist, not a believer, I don’t even believe in ghosts or the Santa Clause, or some power in the sky who will rain down heat and destruction, as it is characterized in the Bible.
    If it means anything further, I am not in the employ of the Koch brothers, and I am not a Republican or Conservative.
    So my skepticism about doomsday cults is that much more well informed and unbiased, at least from a scientific POV.
    The current hysteria tracks exactly that mentality, only now it is millions in the enthrall of that mysticism. Not too unusual I guess in modern times, as there have been many incidents of the mass of “experts” having a “consensus” about the scientific truth of something, that turned out to be false.
    I only comment on this now, from a sociological top-down perspective because that is how you addressed the global warming skepticism.
    The real answers lie in the the base-line sciences of physical chemistry and black body radiation, as well as the 3B year historical record of climate on Earth.
    And none of the science supports the hysteria.

  5. Olly, My point is NO science should EVER be settled. All science should be challenged and accepting of proof, via scientific method, that what was believed to be true is no longer true. Phrenology, Eugenics, etc.

  8. Earth had 7th warmest November on record, still on track for warmest year

    “On record” being the key phrase here. We are just a blink in the eyes of the world and our record keeping isn’t even a gnats fart in the time line of the earth. Our records don’t mean doo squat in the long scheme of things. Neither do we.

    There have been many eons that have been much warmer than now. And many that have been colder. To every thing turn turn turn…..

    Evolution accommodates these changes in environment. The world doesn’t stand still in flora and fauna nor in climate. I thought you guys all believed in evolution. You don’t have evolution without change. You think the dinosaurs were happy about being evolved out of existence…..or being morphed into birds? Well…maybe….flying is pretty cool.

    I’m not advocating that we ignore REAL pollution. I’m thrilled that we don’t have smog…..in this country…..to the level that we did when I was a child. I lived in LA and you couldn’t even see across the street on some days….just like China NOW. It is great that people recycle and are careful with resources. I’m glad that we don’t have mining companies putting chemicals and sludge into the streams, that factories are cleaner and could still be cleaner.

    However, to go off the deep end and try to cripple civilization and progress because of our gnats fart time in this world and a trace gas which isn’t even anywhere near the largest greenhouse gas component in the atmosphere (water vapor is)….this is ……hysteria.

    1. When were the other six hotter November on record. There has been record cold Nevembers in between. DAH. Hot, cold, hot cold, not as hot, not as cold. The problem with you stating records is the records of 1000 years ago proves you wrong. What once was water is land and visa versa. What once was ice is. ot desert. DAH.

  14. “The law has been perverted by the influence of two entirely different causes: stupid greed and false philanthropy.” Frederic Bastiat

  15. Few people visit southern Utah. JT did earlier this year. Apparently hiking through the canyons where the rock strata shows when that area was ocean, jungle and now desert, had no effect on him.

  16. DBQ, I think you and Karen would appreciate this. There was a very fat, loud a-hole on our plane from Puerto Vallarta to Denver last week. He wore a t-shirt, Salton Sea Yacht Club. Anthony Bourdain did a show from the Salton Sea. There are few more depressing places in this country, if you eliminate inner cities.

  17. Yay! The Sacramento Valley will once again become in inland sea. Just think of the fishing possibilities!! The wonderful enhanced habitat for endangered species that the left is all veklempt about. Salmon. Sea Bass. Sturgeon. We won’t have to worry about the Delta Smelt anymore either. Maybe even some bottom fishing. Birds will be more abundant as well. Marine wild life can also have an enhanced habitat. The shoreline will be a mecca and a great place to settle and farm. The south end of the valley, San Joaquin area will have shore line and be able to farm again.

    It will be a shame about the almond and fruit orchards in many areas, but they can move to higher ground. Since the sea rising will not occur overnight but likely over at least a half century, we will have plenty of time to relocate the the higher ground. The valleys in the surrounding mountains are full of ancient fertile sediment left over from the last ice age. An ice age from which we are still recovering……I might add. Deep loamy soil perfect for farming.

    Does anyone have the guts to admit we cannot stop the rise in sea levels? It’s time for palliative action to protect civilization.

    I do. The ocean has risen and fallen over the millennia. This is normal for the earth. Florida was once very high and dry. Giant Ground Sloths roamed where people now fish for Tarpon. You could almost walk from the tip of the Florida Keys to Cuba. The shelf off of the east coast of the United States was also once high and dry for miles and miles. It is now under water, but once was the home to many humans and animals.

    On the other hand…..area that is Colorado and the four corners was once completely under water as evidence by the sediment layers and fossil remains. Later the area was a warm plain spotted with lush forests and teeming with dinosaurs. And later still covered with miles of ice. And then some large mammals and lastly a few humans.

    We can’t stop the rise OR fall in sea levels. Never have been able to. Never will. It is part of the cycle of the earth. We can’t stop ice ages. We can’t stop droughts.

    If you want to save civilization, you are going to have to do what civilizations for thousands of years have had to do when the water rises or disappears.

    MOVE.

    BTW: humans are really not as important to anything as you would like to think we are. We are only here for a short while. Roaches have seniority. 🙂

  18. I remember in the 70’s, the Liberal mantra was global cooling. I used to lie awake at night scared to death that our sun was just going to die and we all would freeze to death.

    When the global warming mantra came out, I made sure that my children knew that this was a lie, made up by a desperate politician named Al Gore, who lost the presidential election and has nothing else to do in his life.

    Our planet has survived millions of years and I don’t think any of these made up global emergencies is going to change it. We all know this global cooling, warming, or (you name it) is just a way to get more money from the American people.

  19. Gary T.:

    Your comment about religious apocalypticism is interesting, but you reach the wrong conclusion. Evangelicals who believe we are living in the end times object to efforts to deal with climate change precisely for that reason. It is also a fundamentalist belief that those who are insisting on responding to climate change are pushing for a new world order in which all of mankind will be under the control of the Antichrist.

    My sense is that the vehemence of the opposition to climate science is based upon one or more rather simple human motivations. Some suggestions:

    1. The Rapture will occur in our lifetime and we need to prepare for that rather than worry about preservation of the environment.

    2. Climate science is part of a plot to destroy American freedom and national sovereignty.

    3. If we start imposing stricter controls on the use of carbon-based fuels, the economic consequences will mean that I won’t be able to have as much stuff.

    4. Science is simply a matter of belief, like religion, and I just don’t believe the climate is changing.

    I’m sure commenters can come up with some more.

    And anyways, the earth can’t be warming because they had 12 inches of snow at my nephew’s house in Syracuse last week.

Comments are closed.