Antarctic Ice Sheet Collapses

 

Relax, it's not the Thwaites ice sheet. You might have to wait a few years for that one.

It's the Conger ice sheet, at 1,200 sq. kms. a good deal smaller.

The science types suspect the recent Antarctic heat dome that saw temperatures reach an incredible 40 degrees Celsius above normal might have helped the Conger to break loose.


Dr Catherine Colello Walker, an earth and planetary scientist at Nasa and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said though the Conger ice shelf was relatively small, “it is one of the most significant collapse events anywhere in Antarctica since the early 2000s when the Larsen B ice shelf disintegrated”.

“It won’t have huge effects, most likely, but it’s a sign of what might be coming,” Walker said.

The Conger ice shelf had been shrinking since the mid-2000s, but only gradually until the beginning of 2020, Walker said. By 4 March this year, the ice shelf appeared to have lost more than half its surface area compared to January measurements of around 1,200 sq km.

Peter Neff, a glaciologist and assistant research professor at the University of Minnesota, said that to see even a small ice shelf collapse in East Antarctica was a surprise.

Comments

  1. TrailblazerMarch 25, 2022 at 5:26 PM

    We are at the frog in the saucepan mode.
    Whilst rightfully engaging the Russian aggression in the Ukraine our politicians are playing their get out of jail cards to condone, promote or subjugate themselves to the worlds carbon monopoly!

    Again, this will not end well..

    TB

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibMarch 26, 2022 at 12:28 PM

      I expect you're right, TB. Very few leaders in the West today can handle more than one emergency at a time. Whichever burns the brightest attracts the moth. They flit from one to another and rarely make much progress on anything.

      Delete
  2. Northern PoVMarch 26, 2022 at 8:54 AM

    Beaches.
    Like many of us, I love big sandy beaches in my home of Vancouver and in the tropics.
    We are going to miss them.

    And all our focus has been on the melting western Antarctic.
    If the east side is melting this fast ......

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibMarch 26, 2022 at 12:30 PM

      It seems sea level rise will reshape our shorelines, probably right after we spend fortunes on temporary fixes that won't hold up.

      Delete
  3. Owen GrayMarch 26, 2022 at 10:50 AM

    The signs continue. But who's paying attention?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibMarch 26, 2022 at 12:32 PM

      I think we've become a society that can see problems but expects some father figure to step in and kiss our boo-boo.

      Delete

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