West Antarctic ice sheet collapse 'unstoppable', says NASA

http://news.msn.com/world/west-antarctic-ice-sheet-collapse-unstoppable-says-nasa

Excerpt;

Ice is melting in the western Antarctic at an unstoppable pace, scientists said Monday, warning that the discovery holds major consequences for global sea level rise in the coming decades.

The speedy melting means that prior calculations of sea level rise worldwide made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will have to be adjusted upwards, scientists told reporters.

"A large sector of the West Antarctic ice sheet has gone into a state of irreversible retreat. It has passed the point of no return," said Eric Rignot, professor of Earth system science at the University of California Irvine.

 

According to some here, it ain't happening because they do not believe in it.

 

The time frame for this is 200 to 1000 yrs. I really don't quite trust our predictive capabilities that far out........

 

Well since there is nothing we can do to stop it, there is now no need to reduce CO2 output.

 

It's kinda odd how some will believe what can't be proven and not believe what can!

 

Well...I suppose if one sticks their head in a hole, that for some period of time they can ignore their environment, but one day they will feel their asses on fire and it will be too late...

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How would you respond if the timeframe was 40 years?

 

Uncle Ferd says if all dat ice melts, it gonna shift the polar axis...

NASA spots worrisome Antarctic ice sheet melt
May 12,`14 WASHINGTON (AP) -- The huge West Antarctic ice sheet is starting a glacially slow collapse in an unstoppable way, two new studies show. Alarmed scientists say that means even more sea level rise than they figured.

 

We can't close the hole in the ozone layer and we can't change the winds pushing warm water up; we have a budget that won't be balanced as is until we are at least knee deep in penguin carcases; we have a bunch of blue cities that think that they should be the ones saved; we have no large scale alternatives to most of our fuels; we have close to 100K in coastline with Lord only knows how many freshwater supplies that could be contaminated, and the only solution the left comes up with so far is a carbon tax.

When the left comes up with one of their open-ended welfare plans to cut in order to save humanity, please let me know. Otherwise self-righteousness and 15 bucks will get you a set of floaties shipped from China and made from a product provided to you by evil Big Oil.

 

I hope this isn't off topic, but why is there a glaciologist at the JET PROPULSION laboratory?

 

Strange, you speak of not having any fixes, but when those crazy lefties suggest more effort should be put into wind and solar power advancement righties such as yourself discount it, do you not know how ludirous that is. Thank God I will not be around to see what is left of the planet for our grandkids.

 

I am not a "rightie" and I have repeatedly supported solar at the consumer level, not the utility supplier level. The billions of public dollars pissed away on Obama contributors' bankruptcy could have put a lot of solar-assist hotwater in or panels on roofs. There just isn't going to be large scale solar until we have a demand for solar products by end-users. You cannot create demand by the product if nobody sees a benefit to it.

In the meantime, since you have not offered a way to pay for anything, let alone flood mitigation on top of our growing stack of unpaid bills, let me know when you have an idea that doesn't bankrupt us a little faster than we are destined for that will stop an unstoppable ice melt.

 

Really? Then why are you talking about those evil Lefties?
I have lots of ideas on where we could get the money needed, let me list a few for ya:

Go to a Flat Tax, everyone pays 15% of what they earn working, period. More revenue in a big way.

Reform Welfare but scrubbing those off the system that are abusing it, offer training to those without skills to find a job and be able to support themselves ( you do know most people getting aide do not want to don't ya?).

STOP sending Billions of dollars to other Nations of the world, ALL of them, half of them hate us and the other half really do not need it. Humanitarian aide is ok so long as it is an emergency and short term.

Cut military spending, there is plenrty of waste in the military and logical cuts and accountability can save Billions without harm our ability to defend the Nation.

Cut out or slim down government agencies that are are more of a waste than what they bring to the table, many issues that are dealt with by several agencies should be combined and put under one roof, stop and reverse the growth of government.

Put tarriffs on any products built by American companies using cheap labor from other Nations, if you take away the reasons they go overseas most will move their manufacturing back to the US. While we are at it use the same criteria that other trading Nations use for imports, meaning if China limits US to import products or business then do them the same favor.

Reform Education so that the best methods that work are installed and those that are proven failures are dumped. The Children are our future, without an educated up and coming class we are doomed as an economic power.

End the Lobby system, all of it, Lobbies are subverting the will of the People and it needs to end if we truely want to live in a Democratic Republic.

I could go on but maybe you have some ideas, feel free to address mine, add your own, or stop being part of the problem, simple choices all.

 

Because they are.

Sure and eliminate the earned income tax credit, but that won't do much for the penguins.

Get real. There is no "reform" to the democrats that does not involve "expansion".

Fine with me but only if the government stops spending "humanitarian" money on foreigners too. Nothing reduces carbon footprints like widespread death.

Preaching to the choir.

Again, reality says will never happen.

Doesn't change the carbon output. Consumption taxes are the only things that will reduce consumption.

We are doomed as an economic power.

Lobbyist represent the will of the people, just not always your will.

Still don't see anything in there about saving us from the great flood.

 

You are wasting my time since I see you took the option of doing nothing. So lomng as people think as you do nothing will be done and when they finally do it will be a day late and a dollar short. Mankind still has a long way to go before being full evolved, lets hope he does before he goes extinct.

 

sure because your taxes are so much better than my taxes so mine are "nothing". Here is something that might be very helpful, but because it calls for common sense, I am sure you oppose it--TELL PEOPLE TO MOVE AWAY FROM THE COASTS. Lord forbid we not spend $100T on sea walls when people from Miami can rent a uhaul for $29 a day and move to Wichita.

 

The same. Our predictive capabilities are pretty pathetic. Not to the point where we should ruin our economy. I was a global warming true believer in the late 1980s. If the predictions made then had been true, we'd already have major sea level rise. We haven't.

 

Seeing how the important Antarctic ice is in Eastern Antarctica the smaller West Antarctic ice is of small concern. Eastern Antarctic ice is all on land and holds 80% of what would be meltwater for raising sea levels and it has been increasing.

 

Well...if you truly believe our 'predictive capabilities' are pathetic, then why do you only believe they are calculated to show things happening sooner than you believe? You and others always believe this stuff might/can happen but it will be much farther into the future. What if in our pathetic predictive capabilities critical events begin to happen even sooner than the 'sooner' which you don't believe? Can we predict when a 6.0+ earthquake will happen and where? Can we predict or categorically state that no sizeable asteroids will strike Earth in the next couple of decades? One thing about Mother Nature, and this includes global climate change and the other stuff I mentioned above, including our solar system, the galaxies, and the Universe, and why not throw in light, gravity, dark matter, black holes, etc. etc. etc., ALL of it is infinitely larger than the knowledge humans possess today. Intelligent humans have only been around a couple hundred years and we're in the very early stages of learning. One thing I love about science as opposed to most all other things is that science welcomes new information, welcomes challenges to the current knowledge/theory, and strives to move forward. Along the way, some of the information we learn, and theorize, points to issues that 'might' have dire effects on mankind and/or Earth...like what happens when average temps rise 5 degrees and sea level rises 3-5 feet? Of course it is human nature to be ignorant and do nothing proactive until our asses are literally on fire! Can we relocate one billion people who currently live in sea level areas in one month...one year...a decade...50-100 years? How many will die in the process? How will it effect the local and world economies? How will it effect nutrition and disease?

Here's the arrogance; even knowing what we know today, why do we continue to allow major development in the USA which is at sea level? Why are we incapable of new policy which says development can only be in areas which are 20 feet above sea level? How can it be so horrible for Americans that we establish all shoreline areas less than 20 feet above sea level to be public areas? I suggest the answers to these questions will expose why we behave as we do...

 

The current IPCC report focuses less on mitigation and more on risk management just as you point out.

 

Wind and solar are hopelessly inadequate. Nuclear generation is the cleanest and best alternative. Unfortunately it is being blocked by the very same environmentalists screaming about increased levels of CO2. Cars could run on natural gas with significantly reduced levels of CO2 but, again, is being blocked by the anti-fracking environmentalists. The oil pipeline is blocked and oil is now being sent over-land on the railway which is much more dangerous. Environmentalism is a lefty cause steeped in ignorance and political motives and has little to do with scientific fact.

 

NASA does a lot of Earth science stuff. Also the military has been working on remote sensing systems in remote snow and ice conditions for a few years now

 

Sorry you are barking up the wrong tree with me and nuclear power, I think it is safe if done right and a partial answer to the energy issue.

 

They've consistently predicted things would occur sooner and more severe than they actually did--i.e. the Chicken little effect. Also, if they are right, and it's unstoppable, what could we do?

In terms of abandoning areas under 20 feet above sea level, do you realize how much inhabited land in the U.S. that is?

 

Gotta stop Greenpeace, the Humane Society, the Nature Conservancy, and the Sierra club from lobbying then. Lobbyists just represent other people. There is no way to eliminate lobbyists without eliminating the voice of the people in government.

 

BS, pure and simple.