Antarctic Ice Sheet Collapses

 

 

A chunk of Antarctic ice about seven times the size of Manhattan suddenly collapsed, putting an even greater portion of glacial ice at risk, scientists said Tuesday.

Satellite images show the runaway disintegration of a 160-square-mile chunk in western Antarctica, which started February 28.

It was the edge of the Wilkins Ice Shelf and has been there for hundreds, maybe 1,500 years.

This is the result of global warming, said British Antarctic Survey scientist David Vaughan.

Because scientists noticed satellite images within hours, they diverted satellite cameras and even flew an airplane over the ongoing collapse for rare pictures and video.

"It's an event we don't get to see very often," said Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.

"The cracks fill with water and slice off and topple. … That gets to be a runaway situation."

                                    

They also said that we are rasing the temps to that warming period temperatures.

So, we are doing a pretty good bang up job on our world, aren't we. I guess I could expect a beach front at my house in a few years.

I have a hard time believing that the problem was as bad as it is now and how fast it's getting worse. We have a serious possibility of losing some species, one being the Polar Bear which is pictured on that page. from what I heard, a few cases were documented of them drowning due to being tired of having to swim longer distances. If global warming was as bad as in the past, I'd imagine it would have been slower and gradual otherwise we wouldn't have these Bears today. This is mostly a guess admittedly, but the scientific community is worried about the Polar Bear, and I can't imagine them living long if natural climate change had the same effect as todays climate is having on them.

Though we might see more hybrids if they go into N.America. A year or so ago they killed a Polar/Grizzly Bear hybrid, had a HUGE paw. Thing was a monster.