From a report dated 13Apl2009 by Douglas Fox in New Scientist:
We know that Antarctica froze 35 million years ago, when its detachment from South America unleashed a circumpolar ocean current that isolated it from warmer parts of the world. What we do not know is whether its ice sheets have stayed frozen or melted and reformed many times since then.
It is an urgent question. Understanding how Antarctica's ice responded to past climate swings will help us to predict how it will react as temperatures rise in the coming decades. The mighty ice sheet covering West Antarctica could unleash enough water to raise sea levels by 5 metres were it to melt.
Andrill's results reveal a breathtaking picture. They show how the West Antarctic ice sheet has collapsed and regrown at least 60 times in the past few million years. Andrill predicts that it could once again tip toward collapse by the year 2100.
Hello? Didn't Mr Fox learn in Science 101 that the melting of FLOATING ice makes no difference to sea levels.
Update: "Didn't the coward that left an anonymous message, learn in Definitions 101 that an Ice Shelf is a thick floating platform of ice?
2 comments:
Hello? Didn't you learn in Denialism 101 that the WAIS isn't floating ice?
Check your defintions, Anonymous, and see my update to the blog.
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