Why Antarctica Is Getting Taller (livescience.com) 62
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Live Science: Bedrock under Antarctica is rising more swiftly than ever recorded -- about 1.6 inches (41 millimeters) upward per year. And thinning ice in Antarctica may be responsible. That's because as ice melts, its weight on the rock below lightens. And over time, when enormous quantities of ice have disappeared, the bedrock rises in response, pushed up by the flow of the viscous mantle below Earth's surface, scientists reported in a new study. These uplifting findings are both bad news and good news for the frozen continent. The good news is that the uplift of supporting bedrock could make the remaining ice sheets more stable. The bad news is that in recent years, the rising earth has probably skewed satellite measurements of ice loss, leading researchers to underestimate the rate of vanishing ice by as much as 10 percent, the scientists reported. The findings were published in the journal Science.
Re: So, no Climate Warming? (Score:1)
Are you being serious? If you are, then your conclusion is alarmingly contrary to the actual information in the article. Theyâ(TM)ve discovered that their measurements were underestimating ice loss, not overestimating it.
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But there's nothing wrong with the distance measurements. That's the point: the distance measurements are accurate, but the level of the actual ground under the ice changes, so the thickness of the ice is less than the distance measurement implies.
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Like the North American continent, Antartica is rising in response to the end of the last ice age. That's not due to AGW in any meaningful way. However, the recent loss of antartic ice may be more severe then measured, and the recent loss of ice is significantly impacted by climate change in the last 100 years, which appears to be strongly affected by human behavior.
Re: So, no Climate Warming? (Score:4, Interesting)
Like the North American continent, Antartica is rising in response to the end of the last ice age.
I don't think so. Antarctica is so cold that most moisture condenses and falls as snow over the floating ice pack, and little reaches the interior. Warming temperatures mean that more snow falls further inland, over continental ice, thickening the ice.
TFA only measured the area around the Amundsen Sea in West Antarctica, which is warmer and closer to the coast than the much larger East Antarctic ice sheet.
Re: So, no Climate Warming? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: So, no Climate Warming? (Score:2)
That said, the risk of melting ice is rising sea level. Unless the ice completely melts, the raised bedrock mitigates the detrimental effects of melting ice caps.
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Water is frozen at -20 C? Yes? Is it also frozen at -18 C? Yes? But it's warmer.
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I knew all along it was a scam.
The scam is not the effect of GHGs on global temperature, which is old and well-established theory. It's the hijacking of the issue by apocalyptic radicals pushing a misanthropic agenda. Don't you wonder why any real-world solution, whether it's on the carbon emission side or on the sequestration side, gets automatically rejected?
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Don't you wonder why any real-world solution, whether it's on the carbon emission side or on the sequestration side, gets automatically rejected?
Automatically rejected only by the other side.
You seem to be in the clan that thinks people are intelligent, and that given the proper information in an objective way, they'll make a proper, rational decision.
Reality check: They're not, and they won't.
There's only one thing to do with the clueless masses: Manipulate them. Good people do it for the greater good, bad people do it for their own self interest. Only a tiny fraction of the human population is interesting in precise, objective information. Their w
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You are very close. That tiny fraction is tiny because of manipulation. Everyone manipulates people for the greater good and has convinced themselves that it is in their own self-intere
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Centimeters may be metric, but it is not an SI unit.
SI units come in 10^3 s
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Untrue since 1960 [wikipedia.org]
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Centimetres in metric countries is mainly a school thing and not used much beyond who do not do much educating beyond high school ie count to ten versus count to one hundred so 1 centimetres is 10 millimetres and of course decimetre which is really never used beyond education 1 decimetre equals 10 centimetres, again counting to ten.
Antarctica is rising because not only is there less ice pushing it down, there is more water at the equator pushing down the plates the water floats on. So we are shifting the p
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Non-science or Nonsense? (Score:2)
"That can either make things temporarily more stable or in probability outcomes temporarily more unstable."
Climate Change - bringing false dichotomies and unverifiable claims since Arrehnius first miscalculated the greenhouse effect of CO2. He corrected his mistake in a later paper but the damage had already been done. 200 years later and the effects are still expressed as a possible range from 'Nothing to see here' to 'OMG we're all going to die (and probably should already be dead)".
Sad really.
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"Centimetres in metric countries is mainly a school thing"
No, it isn't.
"not used much beyond who do not do much educating beyond high school"
Where do you exactly live? Elbonia?
"there is more water at the equator pushing down the plates the water floats on."
Definitively, Elbonia must be.
Likely effect on surrounding plates? (Score:5, Interesting)
Seems like this much mass moving would have an effect on the surrounding plates.
It's currently subducting under the south american plate.
Seems like it could snap off and cause tsunami's along thousands of miles of south american coast line.
It interacts with six other plates in total.
Re:Likely effect on surrounding plates? (Score:5, Informative)
Re: Likely effect on surrounding plates? (Score:2, Interesting)
Great, someone with knowledge in the field. A chance to ask a question.
If Antarctica rises, does something else shrink? E.g. does the sea floor around Antarctica get lower? I'm guessing so because earth is probably relatively incompressible. Also, if I'm squeezing an orange that's more or less what's happening there, too.
If true, what's the effect on sea levels?
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Thanks!
I'm assuming that end of the higher plate will rise some too then?
I was going to say, "Earth's rotation" (Score:1)
Bedrock under Antarctica is rising more swiftly than ever recorded -- about 1.6 inches (41 millimeters) upward per year. And thinning ice in Antarctica may be responsible.
Given how my work days lately have seemed longer and longer, I was going to say that Earth is probably rotating more slowly and so assuming a more perfectly spherical shape.
We can test my hypothesis by measuring to see if there is a corresponding subsidence at the equator.
Skee-Lo ponders... (Score:1)
So now Antarctica wishes it was a baller?
Re: Critical thinking fail? (Score:1)
Wow. Such astute observations.
Do you happen to have any actual physical reason for your eloquent dismissal of my point, or are you just lashing out at anyone who has opinions different to your own? I would really like to know, it's not just an idle question.
Re: Critical thinking fail? (Score:1)
Really? That's all you can offer?
I'm disappointed. I was after a sensible, mature discussion. Can you point out the fallacy in my observation? I would really like to know.
Re: Critical thinking fail? (Score:1)
So far I've been told to go back to infowars (I have no idea what that is, nor care) and go back to sucking putin's cock (obviously making the assumption that I've done that before, not that I'll confirm it nor deny it).
I really just wanted a sensible discussion. I'm anonymous but not a 'coward' and may bother to sign up (again) if I get a sensible response. I used to respect slash dot, but I'm not sure any more. I'm an Internet veteran, BTW, been online since 1984 (an auspicious year), so I'm not new to th
Ohio is still rebounding from last ice age (Score:5, Interesting)
The extrapolations being made from this article are ridiculous. The idea that the small elevation increase will aid in slowing ice movement is simply disproportionate from reality. Ohio is still rebounding from the last ice age, this is a process that occurs over thousand year time spans. We are melting the ice magnitudes of order faster than the rebound can occur.
If we manage to melt all of the ice on Antarctica for centuries, not only will Antarctica rise a mile, but the continents in the norther hemisphere will be sucked inwards so that the volume of the spheroid remains constant. Most of the southern and central US will once again be seabed in 100,000 years. If Antarctica is rising as fast as they say, then the sea floor of the northern Atlantic and Pacific are likely already sinking. Crust cannot rise in one place without compensation elsewhere. The volume of the earth has to remain constant.
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Ohio is still rebounding from the last ice age, this is a process that occurs over thousand year time spans. We are melting the ice magnitudes of order faster than the rebound can occur.
Did you notice the curiosity in your sentence? How do you know that "we" are melting the ice, as opposed to the ice continuing to melt from the last ice age? Sea levels rose [nasa.gov] about 400 feet in the last 10,000 years.
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You didn't answer my question. Can you point to the date when the glaciers stopped retreating from the most recent melt?
My Aunt is getting shorter (Score:2)
Contrary... (Score:1)
Skew the data by not providing all the facts and you too can go full Chicken Little about anything. *smdh*