Antartic Ice sheet melting and collapsing.

Typedef

Here is something worrying I came across, I'm not saying this is conclusive proof for the existance of global warming, but it would seem to be quite a coincidence that there is a hole in the ozone layer roughly the size of the USA over the Antartic.
Anyhoo here is the link Complete Story

It's hard to believe that 500 million billion tonnes of ice sheet has disintegrated in less than a month," says David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey. The 200-metre thick shelf, called Larson B, was 3250 square kilometres, double the size of greater London.


Larsen Ice Shelf B collapsing Photo: P. Skvarca, Instituto Antártico Argentino, S. Tojeiro, Fuerza Aérea Argentina

While small collapses are normal for the Antarctic, such a spectacular failure is highly unusual. The Larson A ice shelf collapsed similarly in 1995, but was only two thirds as big.

Larson B had been slowly crumbling because of unusual climate change in the area. While the Antarctic as a whole has warmed at about the same rate as the rest of the planet, for unknown reasons the peninsula has warmed about five times as fast over the last 50 years. "This shelf is 1800 years old, so it's warmer there now than it has been in all that time," says Vaughan.

Here is another similarly worrying story I came across.

Ice in the heart of Antarctica is retreating and causing sea level rise, scientists have shown for the first time.

The new research shows that the largest glacier in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is now losing far more ice than is being replenished by snow.

I think that sea level rising could well become a major issue for humanity in the next 100 years, I hope not, but the cynic in me tells me that people's apathy and contempt for environmentalism will effectively filibuster rapid and effective movement on environmental reconcilliation until the damage and repercussions are too obvious to avoid.
What do they say, prevention is better than cure?

Xterminator

The melting of the Larson B shelf itself will not affect sea level.
So say Sky News as of this morning. However I agree it is more eveidence of Global warming, and with no respite in sight probably means more climatic instability.

X

bonkey

I also saw an article about a new massive iceberg having broken off Antartica's ice-shelf.

IIRC, it was twice the size of Rhode Island.

jc

Drunk pirate

That freaks me out