Massive iceberg is about to break off from Antarctica - sea levels could rise by 10cm

A massive iceberg roughly a quarter of the size of Wales is about to break off from Antarctica and, if it does, sea levels could rise by 10cm. The iceberg is a vast area of Larsen C ice shelf - it is the most northern major shelf in the Antarctic Peninsula and scientists have warned that it is practically "hanging by a thread".
The frozen mass of ice has an area of 5,000 square km (1,930sq miles) and will be 350m thick when it caves.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 6 January 2017.

An expanding rift has increased in size by 18km (11 miles) over the last few weeks which means the piece is now holding on by a strand of just 20km of ice. In the opinion of researchers, shedding of the shelf will lead to global sea levels raising by 10cm and could lead to the wider break-up of Larsen C. The MIDAS Project, based at Swansea University, has been monitoring the rift and has predicted that it will shed over the next few months, depending on weather conditions. Further shedding of ice shelves around the frozen continent due to rising temperatures will give rise to increase of world sea levels.


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Global warming and rise in sea level could take its toll on US military bases

Global warming is set to present a major problem to the US military because many of its bases located along the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico will be increasingly vulnerable to floods and power-packed storms as the planet warms. This has been indicated in the report by the Union of Concerned Scientists that covered 18 military bases. The research concluded that the military could risk losing land and strategic assets in the coming decades due to sea level rise.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 28 July 2016.

In the opinion of the team, by the year 2050, most of these sites will see more than 10 times the number of floods they experience today. ... in 2070, all but a few are projected to see flooding once or twice every day. And, the worst part is that these are not the worst-case scenarios.
The sea level rise will have its effect on US bases from Florida to Maine. The assumptions are that there would be a moderate rate of ice sheet melt that will continue to increases over a period of time with an ultimate rise of 3.7 feet above 2012 levels, globally, by the end of this century.
Another scenario, assumed a "more rapid ice sheet loss and projects an ultimate rise of 6.3 feet above 2012 levels" across the planet by the year 2100.


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Greenhouse gas emissions could see sea levels rise more than 13 meters by 2500

A recent study has warned that, contrary to earlier predictions, sea levels could rise nearly twice as much by the end of this century in case carbon dioxide emissions continue unabated. The net result could be the devastation of coastal communities around the globe and no one would be spared.
These startling findings paint a more grim picture than current consensus predictions because, the suggestion was that the level of seas could rise by just under a meter at most by the year 2100.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 31 March 2016.

The scientists used sophisticated computer models in order to decipher a longstanding riddle about Antarctica namely, how did it surrender so much ice during previous warm periods?
The scientists discovered that similar conditions could, in future, give rise to monumental and irreversible increases in sea levels. With the continuous emission of high levels of greenhouse gas, the oceans could rise by close to two meters in total (more than six feet) by the end of the century.
And, the melting of ice on Antarctica alone could cause seas to rise more than 13 meters (42 feet) by 2500. This grim picture of sea level rise, had relied on a "minimal contribution from Antarctica" - that is the finding of the study carried out by Rob DeConto of University of Massachusetts, Amherst and David Pollard of Penn State University.
As Eric Rignot, an expert on Antarctica's ice sheet and an earth sciences professor at the University of California, Irvine, has said - 'we are not there yet . . . [But] with the current rate of emissions, we are heading that way.' He was not involved in the study.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Gradually diminishing Arctic Ice means rise in sea level and is not a good sign

#arcticocean #bobward #alaska #sealevelrise #climatechange Based on satellite records that have been maintained since 1979, it has been observed that sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has fallen to the lowest recorded level for the winter season. This is as per the US scientists of the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder. This has been reported in bbc.com dated 19 March 2015.
The maximum ice this year was 14.5 million sq km and, it is found that the Arctic sea ice had thinned by 65% between 1975 and 2012.
This gradual disappearance of ice at the poles is not a healthy sign for the planet because it will have severe consequences for people, animals and plants not just in the polar regions but also around the world due to rise in sea level.
Thus is the caution sounded by Bob Ward of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. In the opinion of scientists, an unusually warm February in parts of Alaska and Russia could have been a contributory factor for the dwindling sea ice.

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