Greenland glaciers present threat if Earth warms up, scientist says

[truffler1635 at my-deja.com]

In article <3904D885.F5A2C255 at daviesand.com>,
  Karl Davies <karl at daviesand.com> wrote:
>
>
> truffler1635 at my-deja.com wrote:
>
> > From The Oregonian, April 19, 2000, pA17
> >
> > Greenland glaciers present threat if Earth warms up, scientist says
> >
> >         Scientist who have been watching the West Antarctic ice sheet for
> > signs of melting say the bigger threat comes from glaciers in Greenland.
> >         Curt Cuffey, a geographer at the University of California at
> > Berkeley, said that Greenland's glaciers are more likely to melt with
> > dire consequences as the Earth warms up. "If nothing is done to
> > stabilize our climate, the sea levels rise as much as 6 meters (20
> > feet), you'll flood the southern half of Florida, the southern half of
> > Louisiana," Cuffey said. "A 2-degree global warming doesn't sound like
> > much, but you have to realize the consequences can be really quite
> > disastrous."
>
> Is that 2 degrees F or 2 degrees C?  If you want to see what eventually
> happens when temperatures increase by 2 degrees C, go to
> http://www.daviesand.com/Choices/Precautionary_Planning/New_Data/.  Looks
> like the melting ice causes a shut down of the thermohaline circulation,
> which ushers in the next glacial phase.  But who knows what the time scales
> are?
>
Excellent question Karl. And considerable difference between 2 degrees C
and F. But I believe the reference is to F. An examination of the
Greenland ice sheet last year, as measured from satellite survellance,
indicated a melting of 4 feet of ice in one year. This was attributed to
the unseasonably warm North Atlantic, as I recall.

Daniel B. Wheeler
www.oregonwhitetruffles.com


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