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Antarctic Experts Warn of Global Warming Meltdown (Scientists admit that Ice sheet melt not man made
Reuters ^ | 12/28/01 | Jeremy Lovell

Posted on 12/30/2001 2:22:50 PM PST by tbeatty

Friday December 28 12:42 PM ET Antarctic Experts Warn of Global Warming Meltdown

Antarctic Experts Warn of Global Warming Meltdown

By Jeremy Lovell

LONDON (Reuters) - There is a one in 20 chance of a dramatic rise in world sea levels over the next century due to global warning, according to a new risk assessment published on Friday.

The survey -- by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Norwegian environmental safety organization, Det Norske Veritas -- said there was a five percent chance of the giant West Antarctic Ice Sheet disintegrating due to climate change and raising sea levels by one meter (yard) in the next 100 years. ''You have to balance the likelihood against the severity of the impacts, and in this case even a five percent chance of this happening is really damn serious,'' said scientist David Vaughan of BAS, responsible for British scientific research in Antarctica.

Scientists have already predicted a rise in sea levels of 50 cm (20 ins) over the next century due to a combination of climate change and increased extraction of ground water, even with no contribution from melting Antarctic ice.

``So we might be looking at something like one and a half meters in the next century,'' Vaughan told Reuters.

Vaughan said the possible breakup of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which accounts for 13 percent of ice on the frozen continent, had nothing to do with the impact of human industrial activity on the climate, but was part of a far older process.

But he said major world polluters could not walk away from the problem.

``The potential impacts of a major change in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet are severe -- sea level rise will be fantastically expensive for developed nations with coastal cities and dire for poor populations in low-lying coastal areas,'' Vaughan said.

Not only would there be flooding on a potentially vast scale, but changes in ocean currents could also have untold consequences on weather patterns, he added.

Previous calculations have said low-lying countries such as Bangladesh could lose 17 percent of its land area and as much as half of its farmland if sea levels rose by one meter, and small island nations could be completely swamped.


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Vaughan said the possible breakup of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which accounts for 13 percent of ice on the frozen continent, had nothing to do with the impact of human industrial activity on the climate, but was part of a far older process.

But he said major world polluters could not walk away from the problem.

Wow. They admit that industry isn't the problem. First time I've seen that coming from mainstream sources. But even if it isn't the problem, they still have blame. What a crock.

1 posted on 12/30/2001 2:22:50 PM PST by tbeatty
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To: tbeatty
For the Algore set, it's time to study any basic climate textbook.

"Climate change" long predates industrial civilization. It's called the "Ice Ages" - and their disappearance.

2 posted on 12/30/2001 2:28:36 PM PST by glc1173@aol.com
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To: tbeatty
Why is global warming, man-made or natural as a result of cyclical changes, have to be BAD news? It is only DIFFERENT, neither good nor bad. Sure, a few low-lying lands may become archipelagos, or shallow bays, or whatever. But the year-round growing belt will streatch further north and south from the equator. If desertification is conceived as a problem, set up big evaporator devices next to salty or brackish waters, and capture the evaporating water, cycling it back to the arid valleys and plains where rain does not normally fall. The land, once turned back to lush green growth with the relatively contaminant-free irrigation water from recaptured evaporation, will then tend to attract further rainfall, a phenomenon noted elsewhere in the western Great Plains, where captured water flow in dams tends to increase the rainfall activity.
3 posted on 12/30/2001 2:39:49 PM PST by alloysteel
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To: tbeatty
Is this the same group who were predicting another ice age just a few years ago?

All these people want is funding and power.

4 posted on 12/30/2001 2:40:19 PM PST by snopercod
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To: glc1173@aol.com
AHHHHHHHHHHHHh the TRUTH eeeks through to the front lines.
A lot of money has gone into perpetuating the Global Warming Hoax. A lot of enviromental group propaganda portrays the US a the BIG PROBLEM and their kiddie literature says BECAUSE WE USE SO MUCH RESOURCES, our footprints on the planet are the LARGEST, SO, they tell them, it's because of US that everyone will suffer and die.

I feel this is a significant part of the forumla that produces the current indicators of our UN - popularity with many countries that produce or fund terrorists.

Lots of funding goes into "teaching aids", songs, plays, posters, videos, CHANTS....mmmm, pretty close to cultism or brainwashing at the least.

BRAVO for these brave scientists.

5 posted on 12/30/2001 2:44:19 PM PST by madfly
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To: snopercod
Oh yes. During the winter of 1977, they were crying that pollution in the atmosphere was blocking out the sun and causing global cooling. Any rise or dip in temperature is caused by industry and it will kill us all.
6 posted on 12/30/2001 2:45:05 PM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
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To: snopercod
It's all about setting up blame now so that reparations can be recovered later. You watch, in a couple years, under Kyoto, countries like Bangladesh will sue the U.S. for damages. The liberals support this because underneath the environmental rhetoric it is a redistribution of wealth. It's communistic and socialistic. It hinders the progress of man to end suffering but it builds their power base.
7 posted on 12/30/2001 2:46:12 PM PST by tbeatty
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To: madfly
If you want a good scare do a google search on

Larsen's Ledge

8 posted on 12/30/2001 2:47:16 PM PST by chilepepper
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To: tbeatty
So they got caught and have to admit that it's not the fault of humans. BUT they still want to continue with their dire predictions which are not true. Recently I read a great article on how group prayer is extremely effective. I'd suggest that. (And get a new project.)
9 posted on 12/30/2001 2:47:37 PM PST by Libertina
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Comment #10 Removed by Moderator

To: alloysteel
Go to CO2SCIENCE.ORG for reasons the awful pollutant that plants crave may raise the midwinter midnight temperature in Siberia from -40 to -38 ! I like global warming, even if my car engine isn't responsible. Can I keep my air conditioner too?
11 posted on 12/30/2001 2:48:46 PM PST by metacognate
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To: tbeatty
Whats the problem here, a Sears sump pump and a couple of hundred miles of hose and we're back in business.
12 posted on 12/30/2001 2:52:15 PM PST by jwalsh07
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To: jwalsh07
A couple hundred million miles of hose and we could pump it to Mars. THey need both water and global warming.
13 posted on 12/30/2001 2:54:04 PM PST by tbeatty
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To: tbeatty
But he said major world polluters could not walk away from the problem.

"Industry is not the problem" but they sure as hell are responsible for it
and must be regulated to death because of the problem.
Even when they admit that the premises were false,
they yet insist on the conclusions drawn from those premises.

14 posted on 12/30/2001 3:06:18 PM PST by arthurus
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To: tbeatty
How would any enviornmetalist explain the change in climate of Mars? Have we been there as well.
15 posted on 12/30/2001 3:07:52 PM PST by A CA Guy
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To: tbeatty
Something like 95% (not exact, drawing from memory) of the U S is unpopulated. All that means is that we will have to move further inland. (Hopefully those of us 100 - 200 miles from the coasts already own the Oceanfront Property of tomorrow :-)

When all is said & done, man does not control the universe. We cannot stop nature's cycles, as much as the enviro-nazi's would like to think so. We are but a p*ss in the ocean.

16 posted on 12/30/2001 3:09:11 PM PST by Protect the Bill of Rights
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To: tbeatty
There is a one in 20 chance of a dramatic rise in world sea levels over the next century due to global warning

There is also a 1 in 20 chance of global cooling. Since global cooling would be more devastating than warming, we should do what we can to increase global warming. Or is logic not allowed in this debate?

17 posted on 12/30/2001 3:10:31 PM PST by OK
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To: tbeatty
Didn't we just have an article on here about MORE ice at S.Pole? B.S.P.H.D. The bunko squad needs to be on these crimminals.
18 posted on 12/30/2001 3:10:36 PM PST by Waco
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To: snopercod
Wow - I am sitting here beach front in Alabama next to the Florida border and would hate to lose my front yard.

If the libs don't confiscate the inheritance we leave our kids including this beach property, then I will get concerned.

19 posted on 12/30/2001 3:11:29 PM PST by oldtimer
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To: Protect the Bill of Rights
When all is said & done, man does not control the universe. We cannot stop nature's cycles, as much as the enviro-nazi's would like to think so. We are but a p*ss in the ocean.

They don't want to stop the cycle, they want to blame it on "haves" so that they can take from them and give it to the "have nots". It's no different than welfare.

20 posted on 12/30/2001 3:12:28 PM PST by tbeatty
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