More 'Wonderfull' Climate Research Findings

reposted | 24.04.2008 20:19 | Climate Chaos | Ecology | World

A team of Australian Research Scientists have concluded a month-long oceanic cruise measuring ocean currents between Australia and Antarctica.(1)

They have found that the salinity of the ocean around Antarctica is decreasing, which will impact the rate at which water sinks. This is the same problem that scientists worry about in the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation (the North Atlantic Conveyor) which has been proven to have caused snaps into ice age conditions.

On the other side of the globe, researchers have found that the Canadian Arctic Ice Sheet has lost 90% of its size since 1900.(2) What is left has broken into three giant pieces, and it is feared that the remaining ice shelf will disintegrate within the next few years.

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1) Ocean salinity evidence of climate change: researchers, 4/17/08

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/17/2219659.htm

2) Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, Largest In Northern Hemisphere, Has Fractured Into Three Main Pieces, 4/16/08

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415205350.htm

reposted

Comments

Hide the following 5 comments

Volume matters

24.04.2008 23:22

Most of these glaciers and icebergs dissolve into the sea, don't they?
Melting ice REDUCES in volume in my experience
This should result in a slight reduction in sea levels
Good for Bangla Desh and the Netherlands imo

not dh

25.04.2008 06:26

even i a non scientist can understand that melting ice increases volume of water in the ocean-

cmon its not that complicated

dh think about it

er, dhy

25.04.2008 13:58

all substances have higher density than in their liquid form, it's all due to molecular density.
this news is frightening

DaanSaaf

GCSE

25.04.2008 15:20

Almost all liquids are LESS dense than the solid form, since the molecules are more randomly assorted. Water is the major exception being densest at 4oC - which is why that is the temperature at the bottom of the oceans.

If the ice is free floating, as at the Arctic, then there is no change in sea level at all when it melts. This is because the ice displaces its own weight of water, and when it melts, is still the same weight (Archimedes). If the water then warms from 0oC to 4oC, the sea level actually drops very slightly, followed by a rise if the water warms beyond 4oC.

If the ice is on land, as with the Antarctic or Greenland, then sea levels rise.

However, sea levels have been rising for some thousands of years. It is not so long since the Channel and the North Sea were above sea level.

a scientist

Also don't forget

26.04.2008 15:56

That as sea temperatures rise the water within them will thermally expand, in other words, the warmer the seas get, the more room they will take up, and therefore this will itself contribute to a rise in sea levels.

Tom A