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2020 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #22
Posted on 30 May 2020 by John Hartz
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, May 24 through Sat, May 30, 2020
Editor's Choice
Antarctic Ocean Reveals New Signs of Rapid Melt of Ancient Ice, Clues About Future Sea Level Rise
A study of seafloor ripples suggests that ice shelves can retreat six miles per year, a quantum increase over today’s rates.
A new study in the journal Science found that floating ice shelves can melt much more rapidly than previously thought—at a rate of about six miles per year. Credit: Massimo Rumi/Barcroft Media via Getty Images
Climate researchers racing to calculate how fast and how high the sea level will rise found new clues on the seafloor around Antarctica. A study released today suggests that some of the continent's floating ice shelves can, during eras of rapid warming, melt back by six miles per year, far faster than any ice retreat observed by satellites.
As global warming speeds up the Antarctic meltdown, the findings "set a new upper limit for what the worst-case might be," said lead author Julian Dowdeswell, director of the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge.
The estimate of ice shelf retreat is based on a pattern of ridges discovered on the seafloor near the Larsen Ice Shelf. The spacing and size of the ridges suggest they were created as the floating ice shelves rose and fell with the tides while rapidly shrinking back from the ocean. In findings published today in Science, the researchers estimate that to corrugate the seafloor in this way, the ice would have retreated by more than 150 feet per day for at least 90 days.
Antarctic Ocean Reveals New Signs of Rapid Melt of Ancient Ice, Clues About Future Sea Level Rise by Bob Berwyn, InsideClimate News, May 28, 2020
Click here to access the entire article as originally published on the InsideClimate News website.
Articles Linked to on Facebook
Sun, May 24, 2020
- Parts of Siberia are hotter than Washington, with temperatures nearly 40 degrees above average by Andrew Freedman and Matthew Cappucci, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, May 22, 2020
- 'I don't want to be seen as a zealot': what MPs really think about the climate crisis by Rebecca Willis, Environment, Guardian, May 21, 2020
- Pandemic piles pressure on world's shrinking forests by Thin Lei Win, Thomson Reuters Foundation, May 22, 2020
- What a Week’s Disasters Tell Us About Climate and the Pandemic by Somini Sengupta, Climate, New York Times, May 23, 2020
- Louisiana Breaks Ground on Isle de Jean Charles Resettlement Project Amid Pandemic by Julie Dermansky, DeSmog, May 22, 2020
- Public returns to St. Peter's Square; pope calls for defence of environment by Philip Pullella, Reuters, May 24, 2020
Mon, May 25, 2020
- American Climate Video: The Family Home Had Gone Untouched by Floodwaters for Over 80 Years, Until the Levee Breached by Katelyn Weisbrod, InsideClimate News, May 24, 2020
- Will pandemic push humans into a healthier relationship with nature? by Thin Lei Win, Thomson Reuters Foundation, May 21, 2020
- Because of Rising CO2, Trees Might Be Warming the Arctic by Chelsea Harvey, E&E News/Scientific American, May 24, 2020
- Bust-up over climate weighs on EU-UK talks, risks trade rifts by Gabriela Baczynska and Kate Abnett, Reuters, May 25, 2020
Tue, May 26, 2020
- Nearly 200 Groups in Canada Vow to Fight for Covid-19 Recovery That Puts Human and Ecological Health First by Andrea Germanos, Common Dreams, May 25, 2020
- Michael Moore film Planet of the Humans removed from YouTube by Jonathan Watts, Environment, Guardian, May 25, 2020
- World health leaders urge green recovery from coronavirus crisis by Fiona Harvey, Environment, Guardian, May 26, 2020
- Climate change could dramatically reduce U.S. snowstorms, Press Release, NIU Newsroom, May 25, 2020
- Loss of Louisiana marshes that protect New Orleans is ‘probably inevitable,’ study finds by Chris Mooney, Climate & Environment, Washington Post, May 22, 2020
- Britain, Host of U.N. Climate Talks, Proposes Full-Year Pandemic Delay by Somini Sengupta, Climate, New York Times, May 26, 2020
Wed, May 27, 2020
- Climate change in deep oceans could be seven times faster by middle of century, report says by Graham Readfearn, Environment, Guardian, May 25, 2020
- Nordic investors turn up heat on coal in climate campaign by Gwladys Fouche & Simon Jessop, Reuters, May 26, 2020
- Airlines could get free pass on climate for five years under industry proposal by Chloé Farand, Climate Home News, May 26, 2020
- Tropical Storm Bertha Makes Landfall in South Carolina, Will Spread Heavy Rain Toward North Carolina and Virginia, Hurricane Central, The Weather Channel, May 27, 2020
- Can Planting a Trillion Trees Stop Climate Change? Scientists Say it’s a Lot More Complicated by Bob Berwyn, InsideClimate News, May 27, 2020
- If COVID-19 frightens you, you should be terrified by climate change by Daniel P Horan, EarthBeat, National Catholic Reporter, May 27, 2020
- At last, a climate policy platform that can unite the left by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, May 27, 2020
- SF, other California cities permitted to sue oil industry over climate change, judges rule by Kurtis Alexander, Environment, San Francisco Chronicle, May 26, 2020
Thu, May 28, 2020
- Global energy investment expected to tumble 20% in 2020 due to COVID crisis -IEA by Bate Felix, Reuters, May 27, 2020
- COVID-19: Four Sustainable Development Goals that help future-proof global recovery, Press Release, UN Environment Programme (UNEP), May 26, 2020
- EU pledges 40 billion euros for 'just transition' from fossil fuels by Kate Abnett, Reuters, May 27, 2020
- Four more years of Donald Trump could ‘delay global emissions cuts by 10 years’ by Josh Gabbatiss, Carbon Brief, May 27, 2020
- Why Is the Fed Spending So Much Money on a Dying Industry?, Opinion by Sarah Bloom Raskin, New York Times, May 28, 2020
- States Sue to Block Trump From Weakening Fuel Economy Rules by Hiroko Tabuchi, Climate, New York Times, May 27, 2020
- Joe Biden has a chance to make history on climate change by David Roberts, Vox, May 28, 2020
Fri, May 29, 2020
- Lost giants: Logging and climate shifts slash forest carbon storage by Michael Taylor, Thomson Reuters Foundation, May 28, 2020
- E.U.’s Coronavirus Recovery Plan Also Aims to Fight Climate Change by Nathanial Gronewold, E&E News/Scientific American, May 28, 2020
- IEA: Coronavirus ‘accelerating closure’ of ageing fossil-fuelled power plants by Josh Gabbatiss, Carbon Brief, May 27, 2020
- Understand SC: Documenting Charleston’s climate emergency in real time by Emily Williams, Podcast, The Post & Courier (Charleston SC), May 28, 2020
- How time in nature helped a therapist cope with disaster by Samantha Harrington, Audio, Yale Climate Connections, May 20 , 2020
- 'The human fingerprint is everywhere': Met Office's alarming warning on climate by Jonathan Watts, Environment, Guardian, May 27, 2020
- Sea rise, floods to dramatically change SC coast by Bo Petersen, Rising Water, The Post & Courier (Charleston, SC), May 20, 2020
Sat, May 30, 2020
- Major milestone: Coal consumption falls behind renewable energy in the United States by Matt Eagen, CNN Business, May 28, 2020
- Energy efficiency helped the Empire State Building save money and cut carbon. It can help you, too. by Sarah Kaplan, Climate Solutions, Washington Post, May 28, 2020
- Antarctic Ocean Reveals New Signs of Rapid Melt of Ancient Ice, Clues About Future Sea Level Rise by Bob Berwyn, InsideClimate News, May 28, 2020
- Australia's severe bushfire season was predicted and will be repeated, inquiry told by Calla Wahlquist, Australia, Guardian May 25, 2020
- Climate Change And Deforestation Mean Earth's Trees Are Younger And Shorter by Nathan Rott, Environment And Energy Collaborative, NPR News, May 29, 2020
How can melting ice sheets raise sea levels?
[DB] Because ice sheets are based on land and are not floating.
Sorry, I meant floating floating ice shelves. That is after all the topic of the above post, and the title implies that melting ice shelves will raise sea levels, which obviously on their own they can't.
Why don't you go and read the article, Slarty?
"Ice shelves float on the ocean but they are fastened to land and act as stoppers that prevent Antarctic ice sheets that are as big as the U.S. and Mexico combined from sliding into the sea. The shelves are frozen to outcrops on the seafloor, but when they melt away from those anchor points, the flow of ice into the ocean speeds up, accelerating sea level rise."
Think of the ice shelves as brakes on a car, that act to keep the car from rolling downhill too fast.
Remove the ice shelves/brakes and everything goes downhill faster.
Slarty Bartfast, another way of looking at it is the floating ice shelves add to sea level rise, because they are frozen fresh water originating from the land based ice sheets. Its not the same as salt water freezing which doesn't change sea level rise.
Re: [3] SirCharles
Thank you for your comment. Yes, I read the article.
Re. [5] nigelj - It doesn't matter where the sea ice comes from. The point is it is floating and so it has already elevated the sea level by displacing sea water. If it melts nothing changes. The volume of sea water it displaces when it is ice is the same volume that will be replaced with water when it melts. That is Archimedes' principle. That was my point.
As for your claim that the ice shelves are just extensions of the ice sheets on land; if that were true (a) they wouldn't be flat, and (b) they wouldn't regrow once melted as they frequently do on a seasonal basis. See here https://earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/sensing-our-planet/unexpected-ice
[DB] As your NASA article makes clear, you are confusing/conflating sea ice with ice shelves, which are extrusions of land-based ice sheets out over the surface of the ocean. Ice shelves may be floating or grounded upon pinning points and are often hundreds of meters thick (50-600 or more). They do not regrow "frequently...on a seasonal basis". Sea ice varies in thickness from 1 to a few meters and is often fully seasonal in nature in the Antarctic.
Commenting upon on a matter without fully understanding it sometimes happens. But others have already pointed out that you do not have a good understanding of this subject matter. As a result, the skeptical thing to do would be to improve your understanding of the subject before commenting further. Alternatively, asking for good resources to use to make that improvement in your understanding is also a good idea.
Slarty Bartfast @6
The article never said these floating ice shelves melt and thus cause sea level rise. It said (paraphrasing) the floating ice shelves melt, and as a result the land based glacier ice sheets retreat more quickly thus accelerating sea level rise. Please read the article again.
The ice shelves are not frozen sea water. They are not sea ice. They are just extensions of the land based glacier, so they are frozen fresh water, refer here.
Agree to the extent that most of the melting floating ice shelves wont cause sea level rise because they have already displaced the sea water. Only the part above the ocean surface would contribute to sea level rise.