At the current rate of deterioration in the global weather systems patterns!

No – ice is less dense than water.

I’m not getting the link between water ice and vulcanism.

wouldn’t the ice that is above the water level add to our current situation

Eureka!

kaesae – Member
Do we know for certain if our sun effects the weather on this planet?

Holy f&%*ing s&^t, sorry, it’s and old post… but seriously

Holy f&%*ing s&^t again, wo… I need a cuppa tea

I’m not getting the link between water ice and vulcanism.

and the more ice that melds the more volcanoes will become active or more active in terms of the ones that are already active

by what mechanism are you suggesting that melted ice water affects volcanoes?

Polar ice melting is an indicator of the warming process, this is happening quicker than the most pessimistic forecasts of last year, weather systems are affected immediately, then the follow on of crops, etc, never mind flooding, the whole fragile system that first world has taken for granted is seemingly about to crash, what is the response,–drill for more oil and gas in the arctic !!!!!

A lot of good arguments, especially liked the ice cubes in a cup to explain how mountains of ice, well actually hundreds of billions of tons of ice melting isn’t having any effect, I feel truly relieved.

I think the problem you will find from a separatist view point is that you see everything as being separate, when in fact everything that exists on this planet is part of a symbiotic relationship or eco system.

When you have cold at the poles or ice caps and heat in the middle of the two you have the ability to cycle large amount of energy in the form of weather, however when you lose the icecaps you lose that ability for the planet to store and control energy flow.

We went through an ice age now we are entering a period of heating up, if the planet can cool down to that degree, can it not heat up as well?

thermohaline circulation.

dump that much fresh water into the ocean and the heat exchange process will alter dramatically. if you dont think the oceans ability to circulate heat will affect us in the uk i suggest you look at other places situated at the same latitude as us.

(sorry if this has been said, i dont have time to read the whole thread)

especially liked the ice cubes in a cup to explain how mountains of ice, well actually hundreds of billions of tons of ice melting isn’t having any effect, I feel truly relieved.

🙄 It’s a nice simple visual demonstration of the physics to explain why melting sea ice doesn’t cause the sea level to rise.

I’m not saying it “isn’t having any effect”, obviously it does (e.g. salinity levels, currents, sea temperature, reduced solar reflection), but the melting of floating sea ice doesn’t cause water levels to rise, only land-based ice does that.

We went through an ice age now we are entering a period of heating up, if the planet can cool down to that degree, can it not heat up as well?

Hmmm… novel idea… let’s call it “global warming”….

my Street flooded today.

Doomed!

Is the cellar OK?

* awaits flood sale *

mountains of ice, well actually hundreds of billions of tons of ice melting isn’t having any effect, I feel truly relieved.

If the sea ice melts, the land ice probably would too, so we’d still be in trouble.

I think jonah tonto has hit the nail on the head for one part of this debate, which part I am not sure 😀

The part that says that if the Atlantic conveyor slows down due to the amount of fresh water entering the Arctic ocean from rivers if all the ice melts then the UK will have even more dismal weather than at present. They were trying to measure the flow with the electrical potential caused by the water flowing over telephone lines or something like that. I wonder how they got on and if it really is slowing down.

you will find from a separatist view point is that you see everything as being separate, when in fact everything that exists on this planet is part of a symbiotic relationship or eco system.

Perhaps you could explain why/how melting polar caps affect volcanoes?
I think folk have realised that many things are interrelated – why not Google Gaia I have a feeling you will like it { i dont fwiw]

i’m the kind of interesting guy that likes a good graph – especially those that get updated on a daily basis, i love the anticipation of waiting for another update.

i know they’re using satellites and that, and global climate is ready to go all ‘day after tomorrow’ all over the place, but… this can’t be right, can it?

that’s bad, right?

All sounds interesting to me.

As for my own experiences, I got caught in a torrential downpour yesterday and watched 2″ of rain form on the roads within about 5 mins.

A few days of that kind of weather would cause widespread flooding.

As far as I’m concerned massive storms and floods are a very real potential threat and I have and will continue to put measures into place to increase my chances of dealing with them if and when they do occur.

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Torrential-rain-causes-flash-flooding/story-16789230-detail/story.html

Yes but as land ice melts the compression of the earths crust would diminish so in certain areas the sea level would drop for a period of time.

that’s bad, right?

Mmmm.. that’s quite a scary graph!

A few days of that kind of weather would cause widespread flooding.

We’ve had two big tropical-style thunderstorms with very heavy torrential rain and very widespread flooding in Newcastle this year.

Quite impressive just how quickly a bit of rain completely paralyses a city.
Within an hour we had roads flooded, bridges/tunnels shut, traffic at standstill, trains stopped, drains exploding, walls and roofs collapsing and people being swept off their feet.

Rain like that over a few days would be devastating to an area. 😕

as land ice melts the compression of the earths crust would diminish so in certain areas the sea level would drop for a period of time.

Surely that would only be a very local effect around the land areas that no longer had several billion tons of ice pushing down on them?

as land ice melts the compression of the earths crust would diminish so in certain areas the sea level would drop for a period of time.

Its called “isostatic adjustment” and is quite prevalent in the northern half of the UK. Sea level remains the same but the portion of the crust that was covered with ice rebounds upwards when the weight of the ice is removed.

Surely that would only be a very local effect around the land areas that no longer had several billion tons of ice pushing down on them?

Yep and there would also be a limited effect as in the crust would decompress and then eventually the sea would rise as the crust got to its ‘nominal’ position.

Plus I just wanted to ad another thing into the mix to make the thread go on a bit longer.

They had photos of Arctic ocean ice coverage over the last few years on French TV news last night. The retreat is even more graphic than the graph. 40% less is a figure I remember form the report but I can’t remember over how long. Average thickness of sea ice down to 2m from 3m.

A lot of good arguments, especially liked the ice cubes in a cup to explain how mountains of ice, well actually hundreds of billions of tons of ice melting isn’t having any effect, I feel truly relieved.

That’s sarcasm right ?

I think he meant just in terms of sea level rising tbh not in general

that’s bad, right?

Especially if you are a Polar Bear

Don’t worry, it’s not as if there is a Vast reservoir of methane locked beneath Antarctic ice sheet…

Oh. 😯

Good point GrahamS, what exactly is locked up in the ice and under the ice?

Not only do we have to worry about gasses and other threats, but what kind of viral and bacterial microbes could be preserved within the ice?

If I read that correctly – Sunbathing in Antarctica here we come. ZING

Good point GrahamS, what exactly is locked up in the ice and under the ice?

That looks like quite a few of the locals where I live, except they have less teeth.

That graph …

Does that show that 2012 there’s been less ice in the summer than ever before, but the 2nd worst year was 2007? So in between the ice in 2008 to 2011 wasn’t shrinking as much. And also ice in the winter has been normal in 2009 to 2012?

What does that mean?

Yes kasae that is the big threat of melting polar caps and escaping methane. Its million year old frozen bugs springing back into life to kill us

That, and the risk that a delinquent penguin might be smoking nearby when the methane is released.

.

(yes I know, that’s the Arctic, not the Antarctic..)

What does that mean?

its melting a lot but with some annual variations but basically the trend is worse each year – by which i mean when compared with the 79-2006 average as every point is under it

Junkyard, I think being aware of all the potential threats is a good idea.

35 million year old bugs, 35 million years of development 😯 in a contained and very harsh environment, do these micro organisms have any similarities to the bugs we have today like influensa, with a lot of micro organisms you have this amazing ability to learn from each other and mutate.

Has anyone gotten any samples of this stuff in and under the ice and WTF is it?

35 millions years of surviving in those condition, strange how our society dismisses viruses and other shit like that, the black death killed 30% to 60% of europe and we have no cure for ebola, respect for these incredibly powerful little beings, might not be a bad idea!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_disease

Interesting, not just the gas but also the bugs!

For all we know, the bugs will find the current levels of atmospheric CO2 poisonous and will simply die off. With a bit of luck, their decomposing bodies will process CO2 and clean up the atmosphere too.

Just saying – unfounded optimism isn’t any worse than unfounded pessimism…

kaesae – Member

Good point GrahamS, what exactly is locked up in the ice and under the ice?

James Hetfield!

??

Whilst shallow methane might be a headache if you are on a rig and have to drill through it, I can’t see the sea ice melting being enough to liberate significant quantities.

The tangents you’re going off on are works of art, Kaesae, a delightful parody of mainstream media reaction to anything scientific (if it’s intended that way, keep “delightful” and drop “parody” if not).