The Mystery of Polar Ice Gone Missing
byPNN’s Lucky7Star © May 27th 2007
1.jpgOriginally uploaded by Courtesy of the BBC posted by Lucky7Star
The dismal failure of leadership in a world driven by profits over prosperity, it is feared, has already taken us over the edge as far as 90% of the scientific community is concerned. A sizable chunk of polar ice at the Arctic region in addition to a piece of the Ross Ice Shelf at the Antarctic region larger than Rhode Island is pause for grave concern for all the people of this tiny planet…. A wake up call, for the world, if you wish. Desperate times indeed may call for desperate measures.
In the photo above indicates the present and and the future projections of the Arctic region two decades from now… Some scientist believe that it could happen even sooner. We are in unknown and uncharted waters the consequences of miscalculation are catastrophic and indeed may well spell the end of civilization as we have known it.
In a related story The BBC landed with a team of researchers to plant a tracking beam at the Eureka High Arctic Weather Station, Canada to follow the Ayles Ice Island that broke away from the Canadian Arctic coast in 2005. This is the first time this event has occurred in at least 3,000 years. Scientists in the Arctic have just carried out the first research on a huge iceberg the size of Manhattan.
Sphere: Related ContentWe approached the island in a small plane. From the air, the vast expanse of white stood out as unusually smooth compared with the much rougher sea ice that forms and thaws with the changing seasons.
The island’s surface was judged safe enough to land on - our plane was fitted with skis - and after a bumpy touchdown we ground to a halt, the first expedition of its kind.
Soon the scientists were at work - time was limited with the risk of the weather changing.
First, Dr Derek Mueller of the University of Alaska Fairbanks dug down through the surface layer of snow to reach the mass of the ice below.
Then he and Dr Luke Copland, of the University of Ottawa, carried out a series of measurements using a ground-penetrating radar.
They found that the average of thickness of the ice was 42-45m (138-148ft) - the equivalent of the height of a 10-storey building.
This was slightly thicker than expected.
One implication is that the island is may prove even more durable than predicted - the sheer weight of ice estimated at two billion tonnes may take longer to melt than initially thought.