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Hunter Cutting

Troubling ice melt in East Antarctica - 0 views

www.sciencemag.org/...1630

climate change impact Antarctica glacier ice melt ice sheet East Antarctica global

shared by Hunter Cutting on 25 Jun 10 - Cached
  • Hunter Cutting on 25 Jun 10
     
    Report in Science: "Three studies, using different remote-sensing methods, show that East Antarctica has already begun to lose ice. A survey of laser altimetry data from the ICESat satellite, published in Nature in October 2009, found ice thinning in several spots along the East Antarctic coast at annual rates as high as nearly 2 meters. Another study, published in Nature Geoscience in November 2009, used the gravity-sensing GRACE satellites and found two areas along the East Antarctic coast each losing about 13 km3 of ice per year. A 2008 study in Nature Geoscience that compared ice flux off the edges of the continent with new accumulation of snow in the interior found a loss of about 10 km3 of ice per year at two areas." "Three studies, using different remote-sensing methods, show that East Antarctica has already begun to lose ice. A survey of laser altimetry data from the ICESat satellite, published in Nature in October 2009, found ice thinning in several spots along the East Antarctic coast at annual rates as high as nearly 2 meters. Another study, published in Nature Geoscience in November 2009, used the gravity-sensing GRACE satellites and found two areas along the East Antarctic coast each losing about 13 km3 of ice per year. A 2008 study in Nature Geoscience that compared ice flux off the edges of the continent with new accumulation of snow in the interior found a loss of about 10 km3 of ice per year at two areas." "It's too early to know what the ice loss in East Antarctica really means, says Isabella Velicogna, a remote-sensing specialist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "What is important is to see what's generating the mass loss," she says. Reductions in snowfall, for example, might reflect short-term weather cycles that could reverse at any time. But thinning caused by accelerating glaciers-as seen in West Antarctica-would warrant concern."
Hunter Cutting

Greenland glacier calves island 4 times the size of Manhattan - 0 views

www.udel.edu/...greenland080610.html

climate change impact ice sheet ice melt Greenland calving

shared by Hunter Cutting on 06 Aug 10 - Cached
  • Greenland glacier calves island 4 times the size of Manhattan
  • A University of Delaware researcher reports that an “ice island” four times the size of Manhattan has calved from Greenland's Petermann Glacier. The last time the Arctic lost such a large chunk of ice was in 1962.
  • “In the early morning hours of August 5, 2010, an ice island four times the size of Manhattan was born in northern Greenland,” said Andreas Muenchow, associate professor of physical ocean science and engineering at the University of Delaware's College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment.
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  • Satellite imagery of this remote area at 81 degrees N latitude and 61 degrees W longitude, about 620 miles [1,000 km] south of the North Pole, reveals that Petermann Glacier lost about one-quarter of its 43-mile long [70 km] floating ice-shel
  • The new ice island has an area of at least 100 square miles and a thickness up to half the height of the Empire State Building. “The freshwater stored in this ice island could keep the Delaware or Hudson rivers flowing for more than two years. It could also keep all U.S. public tap water
  • The last time such a massive ice island formed was in 1962 when Ward Hunt Ice Shelf calved a 230 square-mile island, smaller pieces of which became lodged between real islands inside Nares Strait. Petermann Glacier spawned smaller ice islands in 2001 (34 square miles) and 2008 (10 square miles). In 2005, the Ayles Ice Shelf disintegrated and became an ice island (34 square miles) about 60 miles to the west of Petermann Fjord.
Hunter Cutting

Key Greenland glacier retreats in July - 0 views

voices.washingtonpost.com/..._eyeballs_glacial_melt_in.html

glacier glacial retreat ice loss Greenland climate change impact

shared by Hunter Cutting on 14 Jul 10 - Cached
  • The Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier, one of the largest glaciers in Greenland, swiftly lost a 2.7-square mile chunk of ice between July 6 and 7, NASA announced late last week. The ice loss pushed the point where the glacier meets the ocean, known as the "calving front," nearly one mile farther inland in a single day. According to the space agency, the new calving front location is the farthest inland on record.
  • The Jakobshavn Isbrae is what is known as an outlet glacier, which the National Snow and Ice Data Center defines as "a valley glacier which drains an inland ice sheet or ice cap and flows through a gap in peripheral mountains." In other words, it serves as a drainage pipe from the land ice into the ocean. According to NASA, the Jakobshavn Isbrae, which is located in western Greenland at about 69 degrees north latitude, is the largest outlet glacier in Greenland, draining 6.5 percent of Greenland's ice sheet area.
  • NASA reports that "as much as 10 percent of all ice lost from Greenland is coming through Jakobshavn, which is also believed to be the single largest contributor to sea level rise in the northern hemisphere."
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  • Interestingly, this particular glacier has been retreating especially rapidly in recent years. As the below image shows, the ice front receded more 27 miles in 160 years, but in recent years the ice loss rate has increased, with six miles of retreat observed in just the past decade.
Hunter Cutting

Numerous meltwater lakes forming in Greenland - 0 views

hot-topic.co.nz/its-grim-up-north-2

Arctic Greenland ice sheet ice melt

shared by Hunter Cutting on 14 Jun 10 - Cached
  • From NASA’s eyes in the sky, this is a view of the west coast of Greenland downloaded earlier today, looking down on the Ilulissat Icefjord — the outlet for the Jakobshavn Isbrae, the biggest outlet glacier in Greenland and the largest in the northern hemisphere.
  • I’m posting it to show the numerous large lakes of glacial meltwater that have appeared on top of the ice sheet over recent weeks. At the edge of the ice sheet, the winter snow has melted revealing the greyer ice underneath, but as you climb up the ice away from the coast you get back up into unmelted snow (bottom right). And there are lakes like this a very long way up the west coast, all primed to deliver their water down through moulins to the base of the sheet and thence out to sea, or over the surface in glacial rivers.
Hunter Cutting

Greenland land mass rising as ice sheet melts - 0 views

www.upi.com/...UPI-46691274215832

climate change impact Greenland ice melt land rise sea level rise

shared by Hunter Cutting on 19 May 10 - Cached
  • Greenland's ice is melting so quickly the land underneath is rising at an accelerated pace. Researchers said some coastal areas are rising by nearly 1 inch per year
  • "It's been known for several years that climate change is contributing to the melting of Greenland's ice sheet," Professor Tim Dixon, who led the study, said. "What's surprising, and a bit worrisome, is the ice is melting so fast that we can actually see the land uplift in response. Even more surprising, the rise seems to be accelerating, implying melting is accelerating."
Hunter Cutting

Rising waters, stronger storm surge inundating Virgina coast - 0 views

www2.timesdispatch.com/...352254

climate change impact sea level rise flooding inundation Virginia USA Hampton Roads

shared by Hunter Cutting on 20 Jun 10 - Cached
  • POQUOSON -- Hurricane Isabel flooded Sandy Firman's house in 2003, and now routine storms drive water into the roads and marshes close by. Several homes in this low-lying city, including Firman's, have been elevated about 10 feet to keep them above the ever-closer waters. "We used to not have it like that," said Firman, who has lived in Poquoson all of his 46 years. "But something has changed around here." One big thing that has changed is the sea level, which is rising -- an increase blamed on global warming.
  • In southeastern Virginia, the rising sea is a problem now, and scientists expect it to get much, much worse.
  • During the last ice age thousands of years ago, the weight of glaciers pushed down land in what is now the northern U.S. When those glaciers receded, that northern land began to rise, and land here started sinking, as if Virginia were on the end of a see-saw after the other rider got off. Throughout most of the 20th century, the sea level in southeastern Virginia rose about twelve-hundredths of an inch a year -- or 12 inches per century. But over the past two decades or so, the rate appears to have doubled in places. About half of that increase seems to be due to the sinking of land, and half to global warming, said Carl Hershner, a professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. "And the forecast -- this is the scary part -- is for that acceleration to rise," Hershner said. Scientists say the future increases will be caused almost entirely by climate change. "We will still be sinking," Hershner said, "but that will be a smaller and smaller fraction of the change we experience."
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  • Hampton Roads in southeastern Virginia is unusually vulnerable. It is flat, and its land is sinking. It has nearly 2 million residents. It is home to popular beaches, waterfront homes, military bases, a huge tourism industry and ecologically valuable marshes.
  • "Hampton Roads is one of the most vulnerable regions in the United States to sea-level rise, in terms of population and assets at risk," said Eric J. Walberg, a former staff member for the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.
  • Rising sea levels around the world are attributed to warming. When water warms, it expands. Melting polar ice sheets also raise the waters. In Virginia, sea levels are rising faster than the global average because the land is sinking
  • The sea level in this region has been rising about a foot a century -- the highest rate on the East Coast. Scientists project a potentially devastating rise of 2 to 7 feet by 2100.
  • Many of the piers at the Norfolk Naval Station were built around World War II. During storms or even higher-than-normal tides in recent years, the water began to rise so high that it flooded low-lying areas of the base and covered utility lines, including high-voltage electrical cables, suspended beneath the old piers. That meant frequent losses of power and other services to the base's ships. "Sea-level rise was having a negative impact on the readiness of the combat forces at the base," said Joe Bouchard, the base's commander from 2000 to 2003.
  • The Navy was already planning a multimillion-dollar project to replace the aging piers at Norfolk, the world's largest naval base. To cope with the rising waters, Navy engineers designed double-deck piers with the utility lines suspended from the main, upper deck, about 20 feet above sea level.
  • Cmdr. Wendy L. Snyder, a Defense Department spokeswoman, acknowledged that flooding occurs at the Norfolk and Langley bases. The department is concerned and is studying the problem, she said. "We are going to assess the impacts of climate change for all of our installations." As for possible base closings in Hampton Roads, Snyder said she did not want to speculate.
  • A powerful storm hit Virginia's coast in 1933. But the less-powerful Hurricane Isabel in 2003 -- which became a tropical storm about the time it entered Virginia -- caused similar flooding because the sea level by then had risen 9 to 10 inches. Isabel gained extra destructive power by sending its storm surge inland on higher waters, Hershner said. Isabel caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. On top of all that, scientists predict global warming will cause more-powerful storms in coming decades. And in Hampton Roads, more and more people are building near the shore, putting themselves and their property at risk.
  • Low-lying parts of Hampton Roads flood now from fairly routine storms and tides, said Skip Stiles, director of Wetlands Watch, a Norfolk environmental group. "Anywhere you go, people have stories" about how the water comes up higher than it used to.
  • Hunter Cutting on 20 Jun 10
     
    First in a series of feature stories by the Richmond Times-Dispatch
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