Re: [Phys-l] Antarctic Ice Shelf Falling Apart

[Spinozalens@aol.com]

> From another list

4/30/09 5:44:59 PM, "Lawrence B. Crowell" <lcrowell@SWCP.COM>  wrote:

>  Date:   Thu, 30 Apr 2009  18:44:59 -0600
>  From:   "Lawrence B. Crowell"  <lcrowell@SWCP.COM>
>
>  Subject:Re: Antarctic Ice Shelf  Falling Apart
>  To:      AVOID-L@HAWAII.EDU
>
>
>
>      -----Original Message-----
>     From: Atoms and the Void  [mailto:AVOID-L@HAWAII.EDU] On Behalf Of Bob
>
>      Zannelli
>
>     Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2009 5:47  AM
>     To: AVOID-L@HAWAII.EDU
>
>   Subject: Antarctic Ice Shelf Falling Apart
>
>
>
>
>      Average temperatures in the Antarctic Peninsula have risen by 3.8
degrees
>     Fahrenheit over the past 50 years  — higher than the average global
rise,
>      according to studies.
>     Over the next several weeks,  scientists estimate the Wilkins shelf
will
>      lose some 1,300 square miles — a piece larger than the state of
Rhode
>     Island, or two-thirds the size of  Luxembourg.
>
>
>      ))))))))))))))))))))))
>
>
>    http://news.aol.com/article/antarctic-ice-shelf-falling-apart/
>   452969?icid=main|htmlws-main|dl1|link3|
>      http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fantarctic-ice-shelf-falling-
>   apart%2F452969
>
>
>
>
>  The word needs to get out on this.   There is some strange disinformation
>  campaign at work which has  people convinced that Antarctica is actually
>  getting colder.   Yet the ice shelves have started to break up several
times
>  a year  in this last decade.


Some parts of Antarctica are actually getting  slightly colder; but its
average
temperature is mostly stable.  This is  consistent with global warming,
since
the southern hemisphere is mostly  ocean, which stores a very large part of
the
heat and slows warming in  Antarctica, and alters thermal transfer patterns
so
that some bits of  Antarctica are momentarily cooling.  This effect is
temporary, though,  and will run out in the next few  years.

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2004/12/antarctic-cooling-
global-warming/


The  disinformation about Antarctic cooling supposedly contradicting global

warming is disseminated by various phoney organizations fronting for the
coal
and oil industries.  For example, the  NCPA:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?t
itle=National_Center_for_Policy_Analysis

and  the Heartland  Institute:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Heartland_Institute

...spray  a lot of bullshit "science" against global warming.

Exxon  alone has pumped at least $16 million into such phoney front
organizations  in a campaign deliberately modelled on the tobacco
companies'
anti-science  campaign of the 1970s and 1980s (even employing some of the
same
people):

http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/global_warming_cont
ra
rians/exxonmobil-report-smoke.html



Meanwhile,  Nature says if we don't act *now* to fix things, we're in very
big
trouble.

"Research published in Nature reveals that once a trillion  tonnes of
anthropogenic carbon has been released into the atmosphere, a peak  global
warming exceeding 2°C is likely. Yet only a third of economically
recoverable
oil, gas and coal reserves can be burned before 2100 if that 2°C  warming
is to
be avoided. Faced with this climate crunch, three news  features ask: will
cutting back on carbon be tougher than we think? Can we  drag CO2 directly
from
the air? And could we cool the planet with a wisp of  mist? The worst-case
scenario is a world in 2100 that has twice the level of  pre-industrial CO2
in
the atmosphere. If we want to avoid that, the time for  action is now, says
Nature."


))))))))))))))))))))))))))

_http://www.nature.com/news/specials/roadtocopenhagen/index.html_
(http://www.nature.com/news/specials/roadtocopenhagen/index.html)



Kerry
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