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Antarctic Ice Sheet Falling Apart

Mudd

Who cares?
Premium Member
A large section of the mighty West Antarctica ice sheet has begun falling apart and its continued melting now appears to be unstoppable, two groups of scientists reported on Monday. If the findings hold up, they suggest that the melting could destabilize neighboring parts of the ice sheet and a rise in sea level of 10 feet or more may be unavoidable in coming centuries.
Global warming caused by the human-driven release of greenhouse gases has helped to destabilize the ice sheet, though other factors may also be involved, the scientists said.
The rise of the sea is likely to continue to be relatively slow for the rest of the 21st century, the scientists added, but in the more distant future it may accelerate markedly, potentially throwing society into crisis.

“This is really happening,” Thomas P. Wagner, who runs NASA’s programs on polar ice and helped oversee some of the research, said in an interview. “There’s nothing to stop it now. But you are still limited by the physics of how fast the ice can flow.”
Link

The sea level rise predicted for the melting of the ice sheet doesn't appear to endanger many major cities.

http://flood.firetree.net/
 
Even with rises as small as two or three metres my city's international airport will be unusable though much of the rest of the city will be quite safe. Relocation of the airport will be a problem as it will be difficult to find suitable flat ground.

According to the map my own house is safe with a 13 metre rise but well and truly under water at 20 metres.
 
Your link is going to a +7m rise map, FYI.

The +2m rise the article conservatively predicts looks a bit less dire, though in that scenario the Netherlands, the Nile Delta, lower Mesopotamia, parts of southern Vietnam and northeastern China and no doubt any number of other lower-lying regions are still pretty hosed.

Trouble is with global warming, the conservative predictions have thus far mostly proved wrong and the radical predictions have thus far mostly proved correct. (Nevertheless that map is an interesting resource, thanks for linking it.)
 
It's cities like New York that I'm most concerned for. I'd imagine it won't be permanently under water, but I could see serious flooding issues as a regular problem.
 
It's cities like New York that I'm most concerned for. I'd imagine it won't be permanently under water, but I could see serious flooding issues as a regular problem.

With the 7 meters that map defaults to, sections of Brooklyn and Queens find themselves under water. Manhattan seems to be ok though.
 
The predicted rise from the collapse of the ice sheet is between three and four meters. Surprisingly enough it looks like even parts of Venice will remain unsubmerged.

The map defaults to 7 meters but it's interactive and can be set for less and for much more than that.
 
My old neighborhood in Marine Park, Brooklyn would be under. As would JFK and LaGuardia airports. And considering the population density of those Brooklyn-Queens neighborhoods, and we're talking a massive logistical relocation issue.

And that's just one (albeit densely populated) city.
 
Build a few hundred massive desalinization plants and pump all that new fresh water into the aquifers we're running dry.
 
About time Antarctica got a usable landmass.

San Francisco would get in trouble, but nothing prevents them from building a dam at the golden gate. Just as nothing prevents New York from being secured by a dam. All of the Mediterranean could be protected by a dam as well. Unless it's cheaper to let the regions and cities drown.
 
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I'm not worried. We have a great hero to help meet the challenge of climate change.

SxxL1Mm.jpg
 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/14/sea-level-rise_n_5318769.html

The predicted sea level rise will take a long time to unfold. The numbers listed here do not represent immediate or literal threats. Under any circumstances, coastal populations and economies will reshape themselves over time. But the new research on West Antarctic Ice Sheet decay — and the amount of humanity in the restless ocean’s way — point to unrelenting centuries of defense, retreat, and reimagination of life along our coasts.
I still won't get beachfront property out of this. :(

The climate change "story" has obviously moved beyond both the stupid "is it or isn't it happening" debate and more importantly - although this probably won't be seen clearly for some years - beyond any possibility of preventing or substantially mitigating it. The next stage of human history will be about how human civilization adjusts to the greatest change in our world within recorded memory.
 
If global warming wasn't man made, the effects would still be the same. So it's about time we get away from the self pity "Oh my god what have we done" crap to "what can we do about it?"
 
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