Ocean News

BIG increase number of Icebergs

I saw several news report lately about the huge number of icebergs this year. It certainly makes one wonder about what may be causing this excessive melting.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-satellite-spots-mile-long-iceberg-breaking-off-of-antarctic-glacier/

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=89638

Thanks for keeping us abreast of the situation Imaginary.

Interesting notation aside, ...another theory on Titanic and ice
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/documentary-identifies-second-culprit-in-the-sinking-of-the-titanic/

 

Without freezing there would be no icebergs. Melting causes water from ice, not icebergs. Icebergs are caused by pressure from snow accumulation up-glacier from the calving area forcing the low end of a glacier to go over water, allowing the iceberg to calve from the glacier. Melting would cause the glacier to recede, not press forward.

 

I think the primary point is that there is excessive melting of the ice sheet and the glaciers brought on by global warming

 

Balderdash!

 

"Global average sea level has gone up about 8 inches since 1880. In South Florida, taxpayers are already paying the price for climate change as salt water pushes through porous bedrock into coastal drinking-water supplies, and rivers and canals choked by heavy rains have a harder time draining into the ocean. A recent Florida Atlantic University study estimated that just 6 more inches of sea level rise — very plausible within two decades — would cripple about half of South Florida’s flood control capacity."

 

Well, you got that wrong, RWatson. Why did you attribute that quote to me? Time to edit your last post.

Flattery will get you nowhere.

 

I don't think there were an unusually large number of icebergs created this year, but rather that there were some unusual weather systems that broke the bergs free from the ice pack and sent them south earlier than usual.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/giant-iceberg-canada-newfoundland-international-coast-guard/


http://www.icebergfinder.com/

 

All those icebergs, and the sea level still didn't rise. Huh.

 

Salt water intrusion into drinking water supply in Florida is not caused by the rise of sea level. It is caused by the drawing down of fresh water in the Florida aquifer by over-pumping due in large part by people insisting upon having lush green lawns during the dry season. Yes, we have one. It occurs between hurricane seasons.

Floridan aquifer - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floridan_aquifer

 

The aquifer would have been ruined had not President Nixon put a halt to building of the Cross Florida Barge Canal.

 

Arctic Ocean shipping routes 'to open for months' | BBC

Shipping routes across the Arctic are going to open up significantly this century even with a best-case reduction in CO2 emissions, a new study suggests. University of Reading, UK, researchers have investigated how the decline in sea-ice, driven by warmer temperatures, will make the region more accessible. They find that by 2050, opportunities to transit the Arctic will double for non ice-strengthened vessels. These open-water ships will even be going right over the top at times.

• Pink routes are those taken by moderately ice-strengthened vessels
• Blue transits are those available to non-specialised shipping

​

It is not just that routes open up; they are also open for longer as the century progresses

 

More errors identified in contrarian climate scientists' temperature estimates | The Guardian

John Christy and Roy Spencer are two researchers who became the darlings of the AGW denialist community by reporting that satellite measurements of atmospheric temperatures showed it was not warming but was actually cooling. Despite four other groups who do similar satellite-based research coming to conclusions that the atmosphere is indeed warming, Christy and Spencer have persisted in their misguided claims. And now, again, in a new study published by the American Meteorological Society, more errors made by Christy and Spencer in their data analysis have been discovered.

University of Alabama at Huntsville (where Christy and Spencer work) estimates
of the atmospheric temperature trend before and after correcting for various errors.
Illustration: John Abraham​

"It is relevant to be reminded of these revisions; had we believed the results from the 1990s, we’d still think the world was cooling, and we’d still be wrong."

"Yes, Virginia, there is Anthropogenic Global Warming."

 

'False sense of security': Global warming looks set to accelerate, study finds| Sydney Morning Herald

The Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) is cycle that lasts 10-30 years and affects how much heat is absorbed in the Pacific. In a study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, says that the preceding negative phase - lasting from 2000-2014 - may have provided a "temporary buffer" for surface temperature increases and "cushioned the impacts of global warming on extreme events, such as heatwaves".

"A turnaround of the IPO to its positive phase could initiate a period of accelerated warming over the next one or two decades," Ben Henley and Andrew King state. "This would likely lead to the Paris target of 1.5 degrees (warming since pre-industrial times) being surpassed within the next decade."

 

Migratory birds bumped off schedule as climate change shifts spring
Florida Museum of Natural History

A growing shift in the onset of spring has left nine of 48 species of songbirds studied unable to reach their northern breeding grounds at the calendar marks critical for producing the next generation of fledglings, according to a paper published today in Scientific Reports.

Migratory birds bumped off schedule as climate change shifts spring https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-05/fmon-mbb051217.php

 

"Pericles (495-429 B.C.), a brilliant general, orator, patron of the arts and politician."
Huh. How come you use that name? It doesn't seem to apply. Let me suggest a new one from the article below, "Immense White Fragility"

Conservatives begin to whisper: President Pence http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/17/mike-pence-president-trump-238525

A little learning for you in return, since you were so kind and are probably in the "humiliation" stage of your learning process.

Urban Dictionary: Snowflake http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Snowflake