Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapses In Largest Event Of Last 30 Years

Posted by Dale on Mar 19, 2002 at 09:29
(204.212.212.122)

Recent satellite imagery analyzed at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder has revealed that the northern section of the Larsen B ice shelf, a large floating ice mass on the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula, has shattered and separated from the continent in the largest single event in a 30-year series of ice shelf retreats in the peninsula.

The shattered ice has formed a plume of thousands of icebergs adrift in the Weddell Sea, east of the Antarctic Peninsula. A total of about 3,250 square kilometers or 1,250 square miles, of shelf area has disintegrated in a 35-day period beginning on Jan. 31 of this year.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/03/020319075014.htm

So much for global warming. For those who are unaware, ice and snow are white. We now have a white cover expanding over the ocean toward the equator. White ice and snow reflect sunlight back into space rather than allowing it to be converted to heat as a dark ocean does. Therefore the amount of energy the earth is absorbing from the sun is decreasing which is going to make the next few years colder than they would have been otherwise.

I’m willing to bet however that this doesn’t slow down the shrill voices claiming this is the end of life as we know it. There will probably even be claims of rising sea levels even though Larsen B was already floating.


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