 Just read on Reuters that there is actually some good news coming from an "ice study."
A study of Greenland's ice sheet has revealed that a vast store of planet-warming methane appears to be more stable than thought, easing fears of a rapid rise in temperatures, a scientist said on Friday.
Scientists have feared climate change could trigger a huge release of methane from the clathrate reservoir, sending global warming spiraling out of control.
An estimated 5,000 billion tonnes of carbon are locked up in these deposits, said Vasilii Petrenko of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado.
Only about one trillionth of the methane from the air bubbles contained the carbon-14 isotope. The analysis was undertaken at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization.
Warmer oceans, caused by general global warming or local events can trigger more breakups of ice shelves and faster flow of ice streams in Antarctica. In Greenland, sustained increase in temperatures of only a few degrees will remove the ice.
What the researchers really want to know is how all this meltwater affects the flow of the broader ice sheet once it gets to the bedrock below.
Sarah Das is from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. "It's kind of hard to say what the impact one particular lake would have on the velocity of a large portion of the ice sheet," Das says. "But in general, it would seem that the ice sheet is speeding up quite a bit."
So much water flowed under the ice, it actually lifted the glacier by three feet and sent it slip-sliding a bit toward the coast.
So the fact that carbon isn't releasing as much as feared is the good news. But the glacier moving around and changing water levels so drastically is the bad news. I suppose you have to take the good with the bad. Right?
The Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organisation (ANSTO) is Australia’s national nuclear organisation and the centre of Australian nuclear expertise. The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Act 1987 (Cth) prescribes its general purpose. The purpose is translated into action through corporate drivers of vision, mission and strategic goals.Labels: global warming, greenland, ice |
