Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Monday July 17 2017, @05:17AM   Printer-friendly
from the one-big-ice-cube dept.

(CNN)This week, a trillion-ton hunk of ice broke off Antarctica.

You probably know that. It was all over the Internet.

Among the details that have been repeated ad nauseam: The iceberg is nearly the size of Delaware, which prompted some fun musing on Twitter about where exactly Delaware is and how anyone is supposed to approximate the square footage of that US state. The ice, which has been named A68, represents more than 12% of the Larsen C ice shelf, a sliver on the Antarctic Peninsula. And most important: None of this has anything to do with man-made climate change.

The problem: That last detail -- the climate one -- is misleading at best.

At worst, it's wrong.

Some scientists think this has a lot to do with global warming.

I spent most of Thursday on the phone with scientists, talking to them about the huge iceberg off Antarctica and what it means. Here are my five takeaways.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/14/world/sutter-iceberg-antarctica-climate-change/index.html

[Warning: CNN autoplay video - Ed]


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by WalksOnDirt on Wednesday July 19 2017, @03:04AM

    by WalksOnDirt (5854) on Wednesday July 19 2017, @03:04AM (#541293) Journal

    What a strange comment. I explicitly stated that scientists disagree and that I had no expertise in saying who is right.

    I suspect that more precipitation would lead to more calving. This is not the same as saying the ice shelf would be shrinking, which depends on, at least, the calving rate, the flow of ice onto the shelf and how fast it melts from exposure to sea water.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2