Huge ice sheet breaks from Greenland glacier

[Old Rocks]

Ice molecules have an additional side versus water. This should actually be a contraction right? Land deformation due to the weight of ice sounds like the current actions are a correction.

What "additonal side" are you talking about? What are you saying is contracting? Melting is due to the weight of the ice?!?! Your last sentence needs some explanation!

The reason why the land is isostatically rebounding is because during the last ice age the weight of the ice on the continental landmass was forced down. Since the ice melted 10,000 years ago the land has been rebounding back to it's pre ice age elevation.

In other words it is quite normal. It also tells you that the ice was even THINNER (in other words it was warmer) beforehand because the land hasn't rebounded to it's normal level yet.

Well yes, the ice ages only began about 2 million years ago. And there have been quite a number of them, with interglacial periods. But it has been nearly 15 million years since we have had the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere that is there today.

 

[Old Rocks]

That massive ice island that broke off a Greenland glacier last week could potentially threaten North Atlantic shipping lanes and oil platforms off Canada, scientists say.

"It's so big that you can't prevent it from drifting. You can't stop it," Jon-Ove Methlie Hagen, a glaciologist at the University of Oslo, told the AP.

The island, estimated to be about 100 square miles, or about four times bigger than Manhattan, broke off the Petermann Glacier and is drifting toward the Nares Strait, separating Greenland from Ellsemere Island in Canada. If it reaches the strait before the winter freeze, which normally begins in September, the ice shelf would be carried south along Canada's east coast and reach shipping lanes and oil platforms off Newfoundland in one to two years, scientists say.

Though the behemoth would be expected to break apart after fender-benders with icebergs and islands, giant fragments might survive in the same waters where the Titanic sank in 1912.

Will giant Greenland ice island threaten shipping, oil platforms? -

Greenland calves around 10,000 icebergs a year. So this is not news, try again.

100 square miles is quite a calf. And the lack of that ice at the terminus of the glacier will speed up the glacier, so you will have even more ice coming down into the sea.

 

[Chris]

The 250-square-kilometre Petermann Ice Island — the biggest free-floating frozen mass in the Arctic Ocean in nearly 50 years — has travelled nearly 30 kilometres from its birthplace in a Greenland fiord and is now moving into Nares Strait between Greenland and Canada's Ellesmere Island.

The images show "the iceberg hit a small island, which may delay further progression for a short while and may also cause the iceberg to break," the European Space Agency said in a statement issued Friday.

"It is expected that the iceberg will soon be fully in Nares Strait, but its course depends on winds blowing off the glacier and currents in the strait, as well as sea ice that could block its path."

A top Canadian government ice expert told Postmedia News in early August that officials have begun planning how to deal with the huge object if it drifts — as most icebergs from Greenland do — into Canada's East Coast shipping lanes and toward offshore oil platforms.

European Space Agency captures images of huge ice island

 

[westwall]

Ice molecules have an additional side versus water. This should actually be a contraction right? Land deformation due to the weight of ice sounds like the current actions are a correction.

That is correct, that is why it is called a "rebound". You clearly understand the concept. I wonder why the alarmists can't.

Come on, faux geologist, get it right. Isostatic rebound. As the ice melts, the land rises. Exactly what is being observed.

Yeah, that means IT WAS WARMER IN THE PAST BEFORE THE ICE WEIGHED IT DOWN IN THE FIRST PLACE. But you're not quick enough to figure that out now are you?

 

[westwall]

What "additonal side" are you talking about? What are you saying is contracting? Melting is due to the weight of the ice?!?! Your last sentence needs some explanation!

The reason why the land is isostatically rebounding is because during the last ice age the weight of the ice on the continental landmass was forced down. Since the ice melted 10,000 years ago the land has been rebounding back to it's pre ice age elevation.

In other words it is quite normal. It also tells you that the ice was even THINNER (in other words it was warmer) beforehand because the land hasn't rebounded to it's normal level yet.

Well yes, the ice ages only began about 2 million years ago. And there have been quite a number of them, with interglacial periods. But it has been nearly 15 million years since we have had the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere that is there today.

Reallllllllyy now? Last time I checked the oldest evidence of glaciation (from the African craton) is 3 billion years ago. But that's real geology, you wouldn't know about that.

 

[Old Rocks]

The reason why the land is isostatically rebounding is because during the last ice age the weight of the ice on the continental landmass was forced down. Since the ice melted 10,000 years ago the land has been rebounding back to it's pre ice age elevation.

In other words it is quite normal. It also tells you that the ice was even THINNER (in other words it was warmer) beforehand because the land hasn't rebounded to it's normal level yet.

Well yes, the ice ages only began about 2 million years ago. And there have been quite a number of them, with interglacial periods. But it has been nearly 15 million years since we have had the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere that is there today.

Reallllllllyy now? Last time I checked the oldest evidence of glaciation (from the African craton) is 3 billion years ago. But that's real geology, you wouldn't know about that.

I guess that these people are in need of your great wisdom, Walleyes;

CVO Menu - The Geologic Time Scale

Pleistocene
1.8 million to approximately 11,477 (+/- 85 years) years ago

"The Great Ice Age"

An epoch of the Quaternary period. It is named after the Greek words "pleistos" (most) and "ceno" (new).

 

[Old Rocks]

Hmmm...... Now that is interesting. Wonder where the National Park Service got their figures? Have to look further into this. Once again, you have my thanks, Walleyes. I apparently have not kept up if there is a 1/2 million year debate concerning the forming of continental glaciers.

CVO Website - Glaciations and Ice Sheets

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: U.S. National Park Service Website, Ice Age Floods, 2002
During the Pleistocene Epoch Ice Age, beginning about 2.5 million years ago, virtually all of southwestern Canada was repeatedly glaciated by ice sheets that also covered much of Alaska, northern Washington, Idaho, Montana, and the rest of northern United States. In North America, the most recent glacial event is the Wisconsin glaciation, which began about 80,000 years ago and ended around 10,000 years ago.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Schlee, Our Changing Continent: USGS General Interest Publication, Online, January 2001
During the Great Ice Age, or Pleistocene Epoch, which began about 2 million years ago, large portions of Canada and the Northern United States were blanketed by the continental ice sheet. ... Much of the rich soil of the Midwest is glacial in origin, and the drainage patterns of the Ohio River and the position of the Great Lakes were influenced by the ice. The effects of the glaciers can be seen in the stony soil of some areas, the hilly land surfaces dotted with lakes, the scratched and grooved bedrock surfaces, and the long, low ridges composed of sand and gravel which formed at the front of the ice sheet

 

[Old Rocks]

This site also puts the beginnings of the Pleistocene at 2.5 million years ago.


http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/millar/psw_1996_millar026.pdf

 

[westwall]

Well yes, the ice ages only began about 2 million years ago. And there have been quite a number of them, with interglacial periods. But it has been nearly 15 million years since we have had the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere that is there today.

Reallllllllyy now? Last time I checked the oldest evidence of glaciation (from the African craton) is 3 billion years ago. But that's real geology, you wouldn't know about that.

I guess that these people are in need of your great wisdom, Walleyes;

CVO Menu - The Geologic Time Scale

Pleistocene
1.8 million to approximately 11,477 (+/- 85 years) years ago

"The Great Ice Age"

An epoch of the Quaternary period. It is named after the Greek words "pleistos" (most) and "ceno" (new).

Well when you are dealing with undergrads (well so you claim, though I am dubious of even that) this is what you get.

Here is a little more info for the reading deficient.

Pre-Quaternary Glaciations:
Precambrian
When the topic of glacial periods arise people think of the ice age we currently live in. There is evidence of glaciations several times through the geologic past. The first evidence of glaciation occurs in the Precambrian, with two separate glacial periods. The first or oldest glaciation occurred in the early Proterozoic about 2.5-2.0 billion years ago. In the Gowganda formation, which is 12,000 meters thick and located north of Lake Huron, there are deposits known as tillites. Tillites are believed to be lithified versions of poorly sorted glacial sediments that represent subaqueous varves. Debris with in the tillites also show glacial features such aspolish and striations. The Gowganda formation represents the first known glacial period known as the Huronian glaciation.
The second Precambrian glaciation occurred in the late Proterozoic 800-570 million years ago. Again the evidence for this glaciation are tillite deposits which are found on every continent except Antartica.
The probable cause for the first glaciations to occur is a positive feedback loop triggered by the evolution of chlorophyll bearing plants or blue-green algae over 3.0 billion years ago. These algae could now perform photosynthesis, which produces free oxygen from carbon dioxide (CO2). This free oxygen could now be available to form Ozone(O3). Eventually a thin layer of ozone formed in the atmosphere, this layer reflects incoming short wave radiation which heat up the earth’s surface. As the amount of incoming radiation decreases, so does the earth’s climate. This cooling was significant enough to form ice caps. The main evidence of this explanation is found in the rock record as an increase in late Precambrian stromatolites.



Paleozoic
Three separate glaciations occurred in the Paleozoic era. The first of these took place in the Ordovician period ( 500 million years ago). At this time the African continent was located approximately at the south pole and held an ice sheet possibly six square kilometers larger than the current Antarctic ice sheet. The evidence of the African ice sheet are tillites found on Africa, South America, Scotland, and North America. This wide spread evidence suggests that the ice sheet was not restricted to the South pole region.
There is fragmentary evidence for a Devonian age glaciation found in South America and South Africa. However little is known about this glacial period.
The last glaciation to occur prior to the Quaternary ice ages took place from the Carbiniferous to the Permian period (350-280 million years ago). The Gondwanalandice sheet was centered on the continent of Antarctica and south Africa, with a maximum extent that could have been twice as large as the current Antarctic ice sheet. The Gondwanaland ice sheet was believed to have had radial flow over South America, southern Australia, and southern India. The evidence for this is in the Dwyka series found in Africa. The Dwyka series is a 600 meter thick series of tillites, Underneath these tillites the bedrock contains grooves, striations and polish which indicate paleo flow directions. The Dwyka series is also evidence for the breakup of Pangea, for the fact that no evidence of glaciation corresponding to this time period is found in the northern continents.


Time

 

[westwall]

This site also puts the beginnings of the Pleistocene at 2.5 million years ago.


http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/millar/psw_1996_millar026.pdf

That's cute and about what I would expect from a first year student. Of course I am talking about Pre-Cambrian glaciation. Try thinking like a geologist and not a undeclared community college student why don't you!

 

[Old Rocks]

The reason why the land is isostatically rebounding is because during the last ice age the weight of the ice on the continental landmass was forced down. Since the ice melted 10,000 years ago the land has been rebounding back to it's pre ice age elevation.

In other words it is quite normal. It also tells you that the ice was even THINNER (in other words it was warmer) beforehand because the land hasn't rebounded to it's normal level yet.

Well yes, the ice ages only began about 2 million years ago. And there have been quite a number of them, with interglacial periods. But it has been nearly 15 million years since we have had the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere that is there today.

Reallllllllyy now? Last time I checked the oldest evidence of glaciation (from the African craton) is 3 billion years ago. But that's real geology, you wouldn't know about that.

My bad. I read that as 3 million, and thought that you were refering to the present glaciation, as you can tell by my referances to the beginnings of the Pleistocene.

And, from my referances in other posts to the 'snowball earth' and the CO2 levels at those times, you know full well that I am aware of the prior glaciations.

Yes, the first geology courses that I took were in a communty college. I am in no way ashamed of that. I paid for my education, no grants, no parental money. Community college was a very good way to find out if I had the ability to handle college courses. Then, later, I attended a University. And did well there, also. But, when the price spiral of 1972 happened, picked up my tools again, and re-entered industry as a journey level millwright. Nothing in any of that that I am ashamed of.

But, once again, I am glad of the error. I did not realize that the date of the beginnings of the Pleistocene glaciation had been moved back from 1.8 to 2.5 million years. I am going to have to check on how this corelates to the rise of the Isthmus of Panama and the drying of Africa.

 

[westwall]

Well yes, the ice ages only began about 2 million years ago. And there have been quite a number of them, with interglacial periods. But it has been nearly 15 million years since we have had the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere that is there today.

Reallllllllyy now? Last time I checked the oldest evidence of glaciation (from the African craton) is 3 billion years ago. But that's real geology, you wouldn't know about that.

My bad. I read that as 3 million, and thought that you were refering to the present glaciation, as you can tell by my referances to the beginnings of the Pleistocene.

And, from my referances in other posts to the 'snowball earth' and the CO2 levels at those times, you know full well that I am aware of the prior glaciations.

Yes, the first geology courses that I took were in a communty college. I am in no way ashamed of that. I paid for my education, no grants, no parental money. Community college was a very good way to find out if I had the ability to handle college courses. Then, later, I attended a University. And did well there, also. But, when the price spiral of 1972 happened, picked up my tools again, and re-entered industry as a journey level millwright. Nothing in any of that that I am ashamed of.

But, once again, I am glad of the error. I did not realize that the date of the beginnings of the Pleistocene glaciation had been moved back from 1.8 to 2.5 million years. I am going to have to check on how this corelates to the rise of the Isthmus of Panama and the drying of Africa.

There's nothing wrong with community colleges at all, my first year and a half were at one as well. And my family was way poor. I lived in a truck for 4 years! But I worked my ass off right out of high school and funded my way all the way through grad school. Never have taken a dime from anyone, much less Uncle Sam.

 

[Chris]

Here's a great link that shows the ice island floating out to sea....

Massive Greenland Iceberg Floats Into Nares Strait | Glacier calving, Petermann glacier | Global warming, ice melt | OurAmazingPlanet | Our Amazing Planet

 

[jgarden]

More than two and a half square miles of a Greenland glacier broke up on July 6 and 7, moving the edge of the glacier a mile inland in one day, the furthest inland it has ever been observed .....

Looks like a good place for Glen Beck and Sarah Palin to hold their next "Restoring Honor" Rally!