Conditions and temperatures across the continent (click on)
It would be grossly imprudent of me to ignore the fact that sublimination of huge ice masses may very well end with a 'Big Splash' in surrounding ocean waters. If that should occur with Greenland and Antarctica there will be significant tidal waves (tsunamis) that will kill people in coastal cities. The reality of such event(s) would result in permanent sea level rise immediately. Coastal communities would not be recoverable. Populations could be lost. Once those big ice cubes enter the oceans they will only remain somewhat bouyant for a while but will degrade quickly into water as soon as they hit subtropical and tropical gyres. The splash zone would be incredibly significant as well depending on the size of the iceberg resultant out of 3 mile high Blue Ice.
Humidities are significant, over 50% in over half of the reporting stations.
Ross Ice Shelf could 'collapse quickly' (click on)
SCIENTISTS working in Antarctica fear the Ross Ice Shelf, an ice platform the size of France, could collapse quickly and trigger a rapid rise in sea levels.
A research team drilling in the frozen continent has recovered three million years of climate history, New Zealand newspaper The Press reported today.
An analysis of sea floor samples near Scott Base suggested the Ross Ice Shelf had collapsed before, probably suddenly.
Scientist Tim Naish said the sediment record gave crucial evidence about how the Ross Ice Shelf would react to climate change.
"If the past is any indication of the future, then the ice shelf will collapse," he told the newspaper.
"If the ice shelf goes, then what about the West Antarctic Ice Sheet? What we've learnt from the Antarctic Peninsula is when once buttressing ice sheets go, the glaciers feeding them move faster and that's the thing that isn't so cheery."
Antarctica stores 90 per cent of the world's water, with the the West Antarctic Ice Sheet holding an estimated 30 million cu km.
In January, British Antarctic Survey researchers predicted that its collapse would make sea levels rise by at least 5m, with other estimates predicting a rise of up to 17m. Mr Naish, a sedimentologist with the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, said the team was retrieving a detailed history of the ice shelf.
"We know from the Larsen Ice Shelf (which collapsed on the Antarctic Peninsula in 2002) that they go extremely quickly," he said.
