> Damned if we do and damned if we don't, so why bother?
Shouldn't that be "Damned if we do and exterminated if we don't." > (Hint: what CC commitment level avoids 60 meter sea level rise by 6000 > AD?) Hint: without the ice the Earth's albedo is greatly reduced causing global warming well in excess of that induced by a doubling of CO2. Think of the Eocene for similar levels of greenhouse gases and ice. Cheers, Alastair. PS There is a recent report published in ScienceExpress at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/rapidpdf/1129007v1.pdf Satellite Gravity Measurements Confirm Accelerated Melting of Greenland Ice Sheet J. L. Chen 1*, C. R. Wilson 2, B. D. Tapley 1 Abstract Using time-variable gravity measurements from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission, we estimate ice mass changes over Greenland during the period April 2002 to November 2005. After correcting for effects of spatial filtering and limited resolution of GRACE data, estimated total ice melting rate over Greenland is -239 ± 23 cubic kilometers per year, mostly from East Greenland. This estimate agrees remarkably well with a recent assessment of -224 ± 41 cubic kilometers per year, based on satellite radar interferometry data. GRACE estimates in southeast Greenland suggest accelerated melting since the summer of 2004, consistent with the latest remote sensing measurements. ====================== If we take the current rate of melting as 250 cubic kilometers (CK) and the total Greenland ice as 2,500,000 CK, then it will melt completely in 10,000 years. But until three years ago it was melting at 80 CK, so in three years it has increased by three times. In another nine years time it could be melting at 3^3 = 27 times faster. That would mean that the life of the Greenland ice would be reduced to approx 400 years, and nine years later to 15 years. So it could all be gone in less than 9 + 9 + 15 = 33 years! --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Global Change ("globalchange") newsgroup. Global Change is a public, moderated venue for discussion of science, technology, economics and policy dimensions of global environmental change. Posts will be admitted to the list if and only if any moderator finds the submission to be constructive and/or interesting, on topic, and not gratuitously rude. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalchange -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
