The good news is we were right.about global warming The bad news is

[Brian Sweat]

we were right about global warming.

Arctic ice cap melting at worrying rate: NASA

How long can you tread water? At the rate things are going, I will have ocean front property in a few years.

[Systematic Chaos]

1. I heard that during the summer

in the northern hemisphere it is possible now to SAIL to the North Pole. I'm going to do a google on it and post the link if I find anything.

On edit: Yup, here it is...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/888235.stm

Of course, you will note that I could find NO links to this story in the Murikan press. Guess I just wasn't patient enough to slog all the way down to the 4,198th reference. :shrug:

That is freakin' CRAZY!

[Brucey]

2. Scientists estimate there are about 160,000 deaths a year because of

global warming. And the chimp illegally in the white house says we should just get used to the warmer weather.

[Beaker]

3. Cool!

Humankind may be destroyed in my lifetime afterall. I may even get to witness a few apocolyptic events. I was/am still hoping for an erupyion of the yellowstone SuperVolcanoe- but this will have to do.

[Systematic Chaos]

4. Not that you're completely cynical and jaded, or anything like that!

Nope, you're just one big tub of idealism!

:evilgrin:

[Brian Sweat]

5. I doubt Yellowstone will accomodate you,

but maybe we could have an oceanic "burb." You know, where all of the CO2 in the world's oceans suddenly leave solution like a can of soda that is opened after being shook. Some scientist believe that such an event is responsible for a mass extinction long before the dinosaurs kicked the bucket. If such an event were to occur again, we would all die of CO2 poisoning before anyone knew what was going on and an event like this could happen with almost no advanced warning.

[Systematic Chaos]

6. Actually, Yellowstone just MIGHT accomodate him after all

They say that it's now about 250,000 years overdue for another kaboom, and the ground temperatures are getting quite nasty in some places.

[DonP]

7. I better hurry and finish my Crown Royal tonight then

I'm heading straight home and finishing off that aged bottle I've been saving for a special occasion.

The part that confuses me is, when I was in the Northwest Territories fishing this summer, all the lakes were down at least 4 to 6 feet below normal.

Earth Science ignorance on my part but, wouldn't that level of thawing affect water tables that close to the pole and raise them instead of lowering them?

I haven't heard of any place with serious, epidemic level flooding since Bangladesh over a decade ago. If the caps are melting that quickly (in geological terms at least) where is it all going?

Don P.

[Systematic Chaos]

9. I may be wrong about this, but here's my guess:

While the melting ice might raise the coastal water levels, the inland lakes and rivers are drying up mostly due to decreased rainfall and snowfall. Drought conditions are becoming increasingly prevalent on a global scale, and increasing temperatures and changing weather patterns are a likely result.

[TrogL]

14. Low lake levels

The excess water is evaporating faster than it can accumulate.

[quaker bill]

15. Ice floating on water

already displaces it's entire volume. That is why it floats.

When it melts back to the ice standing on land then the seas will start rising (Physics 101).

[pretzel4gore]

11. the Xians mock the idea of global warming

(or the bush supporting reagan fan club types anyway) while also PRAISING the Lord incessantly.....and damning anything that doesn't fit into ann coulter's box...
it seems awful that, in all known creation, the temperature/pressure range vital to life/intelligence exists so perfectly as here on earth, and with a moon that fits precisely into the sun outline during eclipses....also providing just the right tidal effect to maintain the planet on a course where life can flourish, yet they let greedy fucking money grubbing corporate pigs pump 20 plus billion metric tonnes of carbon into atmosphere/year!
Very few people realize (Xians maybe among the worst) how fragile the ecosystem is, when you consider the 10/billions of degrees/pressures possible and the exactness of what we had....

[bloom]

17. Humankind may be destroyed...

I wonder what it is that makes people look forward to this...

Christians assuming the second coming for 2000 years. Do many cultures await apocolyptic events?


Is it wanting to see how the movie ends? Be a part of the ending, etc.

[Beaker]

19. Pretty much.

I'd like to be there to watch the credits roll.

[Bandit]

8. We sure must have pissed off some old Chinese

Because we certainly are living in interesting times.

[reprobate]

10. Does not bode well for the atlantic conveyor.

Without the atlantic conveyor current, which circulates the waters of the atlantic, keeping the europeans warm and the tropics moderate, we are going to see a catastrophy the likes of which wasn't seen since the 13th century, when europe, particularly nothern europe experienced what is now called the "little ice age". And that was only a blip in the atlantic conveyor.

The melting polar ice will end up in the atlantic, and as it is fresh water it will change the salinity of the atlantic, and shut off the atlantic conveyor. The gulf stream will no longer move warm water north to warm the northern lats and the water off northern europe will not sink and move south to keep the temperate zone temperate.

And all that water will raise the sea level. Who knows, maybe Orlando will be beach front property. It'll just be too damned hot to live here any more.

[Beaker]

12. The melting of the Arctic Ice won't raise sea levels

Unlike the Antarctic, where the Ice rests on a continent, the Arctic Ice of the Northern Hemisphere mostly rests on the water, or in other words, floats. Therefore, it's total mass is already part of the current ocean levels.

[Kamika]

13. This is pretty cool

We'll all live in a mad max inspired waterworld !! :D

Save alot of plants and dirt and you'll be rich

[zelda7743]

16. Hmmm

So I should hold off on buying a condo here on Kauai?

[Beaker]

18. yes.

You'd be much happier on the Big Island.
Kauai gets awful small awful fast.