Re: Massive ice shelf collapsing off Antarctica

William Hyde <wthyde1953@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
news:dacf11e4-5db0-4005-942d-3fc61d02b074@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 

> On Mar 26, 5:31 pm, Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy
> <tausti...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> 
> 
> This particular ice shelf loss does not strike me as that big a
> deal in and of itself.  

That seems to be the opinion of the non-wingnut brigade.

> Nothing like the Larsen B shelf lost a
> few years ago.  That was much larger, and had been  there for
> 11,000 years.
> 
> If it matters particularly it is as part of a pattern, or
> because it was
> buttressing the larger ice shelf, which may now be more
> vulnerable. 
> 
> Of course it really matters because we got some good data and
> cool pictures.

Well, the cool pictures are always money well spent.
> 
>>
>> Isn't the overall average amount of ice on Antartica actually
>> increasing the last couple of years?
> 
> 
> Most of Antarctica is cooling, only the northern areas around
> the peninsula (where this shelf is) are warming.  That
> Antarctica as a whole would not warm noticeably for decades was
> predicted long ago:
> 
> http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2008/02/antarctica-
> is-cold/#more-529 
> 
> Ozone is also a pretty good greenhouse  gas, so the reduction in
> Ozone over Antarctica has an actual cooling effect:
> 
> Shindell, D. T., and G. A. Schmidt (2004), Southern Hemisphere
> climate response to ozone changes and greenhouse gas increases,
> Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L18209, doi:10.1029/2004GL020724.
> 
> Combine the two and you get a surface cooling over much of
> the continent.  Luckily for us.
> 
> Also, keep in mind that cooling does not necessarily imply more
> ice, nor warming less.  Depending on the initial state (how cold
> it was at the start) and precipitation changes, a cooler climate
> may result in a smaller ice sheet, a (somewhat) warmer climate
> in a larger one.
> 
So, what you're saying is, it's not as simple and chanting "Global 
Warming!" over and over while dancing naked around a golden idol of 
Al Gore?

-- 
Terry Austin

"There's no law west of the internet."
    - Nick Stump

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.