PARIS (AFP) – – Estimates of the rate of ice loss from Greenland and West Antarctica, one of the most worrying questions in the global warming debate, should be halved, according to Dutch and US scientists.

In the last two years, several teams have estimated Greenland is shedding roughly 230 gigatonnes of ice, or 230 billion tonnes, per year and West Antarctica around 132 gigatonnes annually.

Together, that would account for more than half of the annual three-millimetre (0.2 inch) yearly rise in sea levels, a pace that compares dramatically with 1.8mm (0.07 inches) annually in the early 1960s.

But, according to the new study, published in the September issue of the journal Nature Geoscience, the ice estimates fail to correct for a phenomenon known as glacial isostatic adjustment.

This is the term for the rebounding of Earth’s crust following the last Ice Age.

Glaciers that were kilometers (miles) thick smothered Antarctica and most of the northern hemisphere for tens of thousands of years, compressing the elastic crust beneath it with their titanic weight.

When the glaciers started to retreat around 20,000 years ago, the crust started to rebound, and is still doing so.

This movement, though, is not just a single vertical motion, lead researcher Bert Vermeersen of Delft Technical University, in the Netherlands, said in phone interview with AFP.

“A good analogy is that it’s like a mattress after someone has been sleeping on it all night,” he said.

The weight of the sleeper creates a hollow as the material compress downwards and outwards. When the person gets up, the mattress starts to recover. This movement, seen in close-up, is both upwards and downwards and also sideways, too, as the decompressed material expands outwards and pulls on adjacent stuffing.

Often ignored or considered a minor factor in previous research, post-glacial rebound turns out to be important, says the paper.

It looks at tiny changes in Earth’s gravitational field provided by two satellites since 2002, from GPS measurements on land, and from figures for sea floor pressure.

These revealed, among other things, that southern Greenland is in fact subsiding, as the crust beneath it is pulled by the post-glacial rebound from northern America.

With glacial isostatic adjustment modelled in, the loss from Greenland is put at 104 gigatonnes, plus or minus 23 gigatonnes, and 64 gigatonnes from West Antarctica, plus or minus 32 gigatonnes.

These variations show a large degree of uncertainty, but Vermeersen believes that even so a clearer picture is emerging on icesheet loss.

“The corrections for deformations of the Earth’s crust have a considerable effect on the amount of ice that is estimated to be melting each year,” said Vermeersen, whose team worked with NASA’s Jet Propulsation Laboratory and the Netherlands Institute for Space Research.

“We have concluded that the Greenland and West Antarctica ice caps are melting at approximately half the speed originally predicted.”

If the figures for overall sea level rise are accurate, icesheet loss would be contribute about 30 percent, rather than roughly half, to the total, said Vermeersen. The rest would come mainly from thermal expansion, meaning that as the sea warms it rises.

The debate is important because of fears that Earth’s biggest reservoirs of ice, capable of driving up ocean levels by many metres (feet) if lost, are melting much faster than global-warming scenarios had predicted.

In 2007, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted oceans would rise by 18-59 centimeters (7.2 and 23.6 inches) by 2100, a figure that at its upper range means vulnerable coastal cities would become swamped within a few generations.

The increase would depend on warming estimated at between 1.1 and 6.4 degrees Celsius (1.98-11.52 degrees Fahrenheit) this century, the IPCC said. It stressed, though, the uncertainties about icesheet loss.

via Climate: New study slashes estimate of icecap loss – Yahoo! Singapore News.

 

Attention: everyone with a camera, amateur or pro. Please join us on Sunday, May 2, at 15:00 U.T.C./G.M.T., as thousands of photographers simultaneously record “A Moment in Time.” The idea is to create an international mosaic, an astonishingly varied gallery of images that are cemented together by the common element of time.How do I submit my picture?Call up this form, submit.nytimes.com/moment, which should be self explanatory. That’s all there is to it. If you’re looking at the submission form before Sunday, May 2, or after Friday, May 7, you’ll find that you can read it but can’t actually use it. How long do I have to submit my picture?Five days, until 15:00 U.T.C. on Friday. We recognize that not every photographer will be near a computer on Sunday. Some of you may not be able to get to a computer for days. This extended deadline is for you.

via A Moment in Time or, F.A.Q. on U.T.C. – Lens Blog – NYTimes.com.

 

40 Years After the Cuyahoga Burned, Clevelanders Fish in It.

Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River caught on fire 40 years ago June 22 when oily garbage floating in it was ignited, probably by sparks from a passing train. In turn, the fire sparked the creation of environmental agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, along with passage of 1972’s Clean Water Act. And the river, once a dumping ground for industrial waste and an icon for environmental disrepair, today supports more than 60 species of fish along with beavers and various bird species, and serves as an example of environmental restoration.

The river’s recovery is an inspirational account of how even the most putrid bodies of water could be cleaned up.

Read more…

 

The truth about the denial machine is increasingly being brought out in the open.

 

Sounds like the US may finally be coming around on the issue of Global Warming. Better late then never.

 

1. Account for the global dimensions of climate change;
2. Create incentives for technology innovation;
3. Be environmentally effective;
4. Create economic opportunity and advantage;
5. Be fair to sectors disproportionately impacted; and
6. Reward early action.

They have also published a report called A Call to Action in which they discuss their principles and recommendations.

This is very refreshing and it shows some leadership finally coming from Corporate America. This demonstrates what many European companies have known for a long time: it is possible to save money and/or create new technologies and markets by investing in green technology. let’s hope this is a sign of things to come, and that the American Government will start listening soon.

 

Citizens Bank announces special loans for cars that emit less CO2

Vancouver, British Columbia – Citizens Bank of Canada has announced the introduction of its Clean Air Auto Loan, applicable to vehicles with low CO2 emissions. The Clean Air Auto Loan is a personal loan of up to $35,000 on the purchase of a new vehicle, at rates of prime or prime plus one per cent, depending on the vehicle. With prime currently at six per cent, the bank says that borrowers could save up to $3,000 over five years, based on the maximum loan amount. The bank has compiled a list of 13 loan-eligible models of gasoline/electric hybrid, electric and diesel vehicles, based on Natural Resources Canada’s annual ranking of all motor vehicles sold in Canada according to their CO2 emissions. Vehicles emitting 50 per cent less CO2 than the average vehicle on the road qualify for the lowest interest rate at prime. Borrowers will receive a competitive rate of prime plus one per cent when they purchase vehicles that emit at least 33 per cent less CO2. A complete list of eligible vehicles can be found at CitizensBank.com. Loan applications can be made through the link, or by calling 1-888-708-7800.

(source…)