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Thursday, March 31, 2016

Global Warming - West Antarctic Ice Sheet

NYT: Climate Model Predicts West Antarctic Ice Sheet Could Melt Rapidly By JUSTIN GILLIS

Nature: Contribution of Antarctica to past and future sea-level rise

3 comments:

Glynn Kalara said...

I'd say not will probably melt, it will absolutely melt given the present amount of CO2 and other GHGs being put daily into the atmosphere. The last time this much CO2 was in the air was 35 mil. yrs. ago in a short 5K period called the PTM ( Pliocene Thermal Max) where Temps were 5C above the present. We will at the rate were adding CO2 ( 10Xs the rate in that extreme period) reach 5C in 100 yrs. or less some say far less. At that time there was no ice on either pole even in winter. The oceans were hundreds of feet higher and much larger. This was the era that whales first appeared.

Glynn Kalara said...

I made a mistake on the yrs. of the Pliocene it was 5.333 million to 2.58[4] million years BP and the oceans were 25 meters higher then today. It was the age right before the beginning of the Ice ages. Oh and it was also the age of the mega-fauna ( huge mammals of which only a few are left today including Elephants, Musk Oxes , wolves, us.) Whales had already evolved by then. We would evolve into homo sapiens during the following Ice ages.

Jim Sande said...

Why did the Pliocene Thermal Max get so hot? Fascinating info and thanks.