Posted on 02/08/2012 11:13:58 AM PST by Hunton Peck
Better technology yields better data. The bad news is the extra water from 2003-2010 would fill Lake Erie eight times
By Jason Koebler February 8, 2012 RSS Feed Print
Nearly 230 billion tons of ice is melting into the ocean from glaciers, ice caps, and mountaintops annually—which is actually less than previous estimates, according to new research by scientists at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
If the amount of ice lost between 2003 and 2010 covered the United States, the whole country would be under one-and-a-half feet of water, or it'd fill Lake Erie eight times, researchers say. Ocean levels worldwide are rising about six tenths of an inch per year, according to researcher John Wahr.
While vast quantities of ice melting into the ocean is not exactly good news, Wahr says, according to his team's estimates, about 30 percent less ice is melting than previously thought.
The team used data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite, which was launched as a joint project between NASA and Germany in 2002. The GRACE satellite measures gravity, which is related to mass, in 20 distinct regions worldwide. Wahr says that gives the team more accurate estimates, because previous teams had to measure ice loss at "a few easily accessible glaciers" and then extrapolate it to the 200,000 glaciers worldwide.
"It's tough to get an estimate [with previous methods]," he says.
With GRACE, the team can measure wide swaths of the earth, giving them a more complete picture. "It was time to do a complete global inventory," he says. Although the team used eight years of GRACE's data, Wahr says it's important to realize that melting patterns are hard to predict.
"Even with an eight-year estimate, it's not clear how far into the future you can project," he says. "A lot of people want to predict into the end of the century, but I think it's too dangerous to do that … We don't have enough info to know what'll happen. There's some ebb and flow to these things."
All this melting is the reason Florida is being evacuated and people are forbidden to build along the shore. It isn’t being evacuated?
hmmmm, well, we get to keep all the money from scaring people, don’t we?
[Global Warming “Experts” are modern day snake oil salesmen]
We’re DOOMED ....slowly
Satellite images Arctic Ice Cap: Feb 1, 2003 vs. Feb 1, 2010
http://igloo.atmos.uiuc.edu/cgi-bin/test/print.sh?fm=02&fd=01&fy=2003&sm=02&sd=01&sy=2010
Looks like the extent is slightly greater in 2003 but in 2010 the density of ice is much greater than in 2003.
America is 2% of the world surface
2% of 18" = 3/8" of one inch. What is the tidal variant world wide?
You gotta love these nonsense screeds.
Melting polar ice means nothing at all. Just as the melting ice in a glass full of water won’t make it overflow, polar melting can’t make sea level rise.
Of course, no melting is occuring in the south. Ice is building higher day by day in Antarctica, and likely always will; it has never been different since the place was discovered. Expanding ice flows continue to fill the southern ocean with icebergs.
FTA: “ Fewer than 120 (0.075%) have had their mass balance (the sum of the annual mass gains and losses of the glacier or ice cap) directly measured, and for only 37 of these are there records extending beyond 30 years. Extrapolating this tiny sample of observations to all glaciers and ice caps is a challenging task that inevitably leads to large uncertainties.” So much for the hard science behind their ice-loss conclusions. (Hat tip to junkscience.com)
Less than previously thought, or maybe not at all, but certainly less than some cycles in the past, and whatever is needed to keep up the warming scam while Europe freezes.
If I am not mistaken, Lake Erie is our shallowest great lake. I’ll bet the melting would also be enough water to fill a gazillion football fields a foot deep.
>> “ I love it when they show big pieces of ice breaking off in Antarctica in December and January right in the middle of the Antarctic Summer.” <<
.
That’s called “calving” and it is caused by advancement of the ice flow, to the point that it can no longer support its own weight.
Nearly 230 billion tons of ice is melting into the ocean from glaciers, ice caps, and mountaintops annually -- which is actually less than previous estimatesThanks Hunton Peck.
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