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Ancient ice bridge collapses

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Published Date: 06 April 2009
By Alister Doyle
AN ICE bridge that had apparently held a vast Antarctic shelf in place during recorded history has shattered and could herald a wider collapse linked to global warming, a leading has scientist warned.
A satellite picture from the European Space Agency showed that a 25 mile long strip of ice believed to pin the Wilkins Ice Shelf in place had splintered at its narrowest point, about 500 metres wide, on Saturday.

The Wilkins, now the size of Jamaica or the US state of Connecticut, is one of ten shelves to have shrunk or collapsed in recent years on the Antarctic Peninsula, where temperatures have risen in recent decades.

The ESA picture showed a jumble of huge flat-topped icebergs in the sea where the ice bridge had been on Friday, pinning the Wilkins to the coast and running north-west to Charcot Island.

David Vaughan, a glaciologist with the British Antarctic Survey, said change in Antarctica was rarely so dramatic. The loss of the ice bridge may now allow ocean currents to wash away far more of the Wilkins shelf.

Mr Vaughan said: "My feeling is that we will lose more of the ice, but there will be a remnant to the south."

Nine other shelves have receded or collapsed around the Antarctic Peninsula in the past 50 years, often abruptly.





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  • Last Updated: 05 April 2009 10:06 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Global Warming
 
1

,

06/04/2009 03:52:00
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
2

Mashimaro,

China 06/04/2009 05:10:49
Wah Oh! Now we're skeevad
3

TimW1234,

Ottawa, Canada 06/04/2009 06:44:04
Those sceptics of "global warming" should read the writing on the wall.

With all due respect, #1, I surmise that your cogitations are spurious and require further documentation and VERIFIABLE facts.

This is not to say that your suppostions are wrong but they need more scientific support.

By the way, are YOU the REAL "Postmark 55" since there have been some trolls and frauds passing themselves off as you?
4

Jim A,

06/04/2009 07:56:04
#3 Tim, I don't think it is the real Posty mate. The real Posty would have mention the UK the US and the illegal wars at least twice in his post. Nah, that ain't our Posty ;-)
5

2dogs in D.C.,

06/04/2009 08:52:14
Hi,Tim! You made it through winter. Great to hear you again. How's Chester? Not certain about global warming though.It was one loooong cold spell here. Climate change,I'll buy into. I actually tend to agree,somewhat,with postit,in that this has probably happened repeatedly throughout time. (And Jim-I'll say it for Postit). This would not have happened were it not for all the bombs,ect,dropped on Iraq. OK? ;-)
6

Slioch,

Scottish Highlands 06/04/2009 09:03:04
#1 Postmark 55 again shows the typical reaction of someone in denial: pretending to himself that this is not an unusual occurrence.

David Vaughan, the glaciologist with the British Antarctic Survey, also reported that "cores of sediments on the seabed indicate that some of these ice shelves had been in place for at least 10,000 years" and that "an ice shelf would take many hundreds of years to form".

"Nine other shelves have receded or collapsed around the Antarctic Peninsula in the past 50 years". This ice shelf had apparently been "in place during recorded history." See:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKTRE5326HO20090405?sp=true

Clearly, what we are witnessing is highly unusual, and not something that has been "happening since the dawn of time" as Postmark fools himself.
7

El Franko,

Dagenham 06/04/2009 09:45:36
When will journalists on The Scotsman begin to do their jobs properly. I am getting weary of their copying and pasting from press releases. How about a little investigation from time to time? Especially when the releases are part of a well-established scam on global warming. It is surely agreed by all that bits break off and bits form on the ice at either pole from year to year - they are not static systems. Click on the southern hemisphere plots on this page to see there is nothing particularly unusual about the current, on the high side of the recent mean, ice cover there: http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/
8

Slioch,

Scottish Highlands 06/04/2009 10:24:09
#7 El Franko "that bits break off and bits form on the ice at either pole from year to year"

This ice sheet was ancient and huge. It is not sea-ice and its loss has nothing to do with the annual accretion/diminution of sea-ice due to seasonal variations.

9

TimW1234,

Ottawa, Canada 06/04/2009 11:39:53
5 2dogs in DC

Thanks for your upbeat message.

Chester, my frolicking "baby boy" is sniffing EVERYTHING on the ground and seems to have Spring fever.

Luckily he is neutered - every pet owner should do such to their cats and dogs - so he is not spreading his progeny hither and thither.

I send a kind message and HAPPY EASTER! to you and yours.
10

Dave From Barra,

Western Isles 06/04/2009 14:39:35
"David Vaughan, the glaciologist with the British Antarctic Survey, also reported that "cores of sediments on the seabed indicate that some of these ice shelves had been in place for at least 10,000 years" and that "an ice shelf would take many hundreds of years to form".


Interestingly, the ice sheet retreated from Scotland around 10,000 years ago. Now I know where it went.
11

ThePeter,

Glasgae` 06/04/2009 17:41:32
Any other commentators feel free to ignore the above comments from members of the Green party / Windfarms co

I think global warming fans have become fascist in their belief's. If you do not follow them then you are a heretic.

Natural things DO happen boys and girls, if they did not we would still be occupying one super-continent. Also there is a LOT of scientific research that doubts it. But hey, Al Gore's film must be true and William Wallace really did look and speak like Mel Gibson......

 

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