The
loss of a nearly 4.5-square-kilometer expanse of ice in a single day
from Greenland's Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier is a warning sign of
increasing water temperatures, according to researchers at the US
National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA).
The
detachment of the huge piece of ice caused the ocean to effectively move
1.6 kilometers further inland, a point more interior than what has ever
been previously observed. The Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier, which has seen
drastic ice losses since 2001, is believed to be the largest factor in
northern hemispheric sea level rise.
Thomas Wagner, cryospheric
program scientist at NASA, noted that this recent event occurred just
after an Arctic winter season in which no ice had formed in the
surrounding waters. He commented, “While the exact relationship between
these events is being determined, it lends credence to the theory that
warming of the oceans is responsible for the ice loss observed
throughout Greenland and Antarctica.”
NASA scientists previously
observed that west Greenland's glaciers are melting 100 times faster at
points beneath the ocean than on their above-ground surfaces, saying
that the likely explanation for this discrepancy is warming ocean water.
Dr. Wagner and other National Aeronautic and Space
Administration experts, we thank you for these observations that further
reveal the predicament of our fragile biosphere.
May we all act now
in effective ways to cool and re-stabilize our shared planetary home.
Conveying her ever-present concern for all beings, Supreme Master Ching
Hai spoke during a lecture given in France in December 2007 about
addressing the dire situation caused by such conditions as accelerated
polar ice melt.
Supreme Master Ching Hai:
The climate is warming quicker than they predict, that’s the problem.
Because you see, when one thing is warm, it makes another thing warm.
And then, because like this, if the ocean is warm, then it melts the
ice.
Because when the ice is there it reflects the heat, and so
the ocean is less warm, but now the ocean is warm enough to melt the
ice, and so there is nothing to reflect the heat, and therefore the
ocean is warmer.
So that’s why they could not calculate it well.
And so it keeps warming faster than they think. So in that case if the
governments or everyone don’t do anything, then that’s it.
Do
whatever you can to save the planet. Like, go out with the Alternative
Living and tell people to eat vegetarian, tell people to plant trees,
spare some with the electricity, water, whatever.
But that is
not much. The government has to do something. They have to stop it
altogether. Anyway. If it were up to me, I’d forbid everybody to eat
meat. Stop immediately.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-20010213-501465.htmlhttp://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0712/Huge-chunk-of-ice-breaks-off-of-glacier-in-Greenland