A satellite by ESA has been tracking one of the largest icebergs to detach from Greenland. They recorded this detachment back in August. The scale of the iceberg is large, 30km long, 15 wide, 7km from its head, estimated total coverage 245 Sq Km. The good part is that it is traveling slowly, so far since August it has only covered 7km. For now it'll continue its journey down the Nares Strait north of greenland. In the past there have been other icebergs that have detached from greenland and other areas on the planet. In 2008, a 27km iceberg embarked on a similar journey as this iceberg.
Its not surprising to me that such a large iceberg found its way out into the ocean. What is astonishing to me is that the scale of past icebergs were more than half the size of the one explained in this article. This is concerning to me. Last week after reading about CO2 effect on the earth and how it contributes to a sort of green house effect this type or ordeal will more than likely happen more often. Although I don't believe anyone alive today will ever see the dire effects human's have on the earth the future will. This leads me to wonder as well as the effect it has on wild life. I wouldn't want to imagine a world without penguins or polar bears.
It is sad how something drastic must happen before something is done about it. Hopefully this issue will not persist decades into the future. If it did we wouldn't become strictly a water planet but we sure would be close to one. In reality, I dont see anything being done about this untill ships start crashing into multiple icebergs or species start diminishing. I wonder if it has to go as far as seafood being a obscenely scarce resource before something is done. Even so, all the publicity in the world about this sometimes will not spark action. All we can do is hope that something is done from hurting our planet further.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
CO2 Rapid Release at end of ice age
This article was interesting for the fact that so much evidence can be uncovered through study. I'm surprised that even after thousands of years after the ice age this type of information can still be found.
I can relate to why they wanted to do this study. Civilization needs to know this type of information due to fossil fuel consumption. The article even makes mention of this stating it is urgent we understand consumption with CO1 emissions.
I didn't know that marine phytoplankton was part of the process of removing co2 from the ocean. It was very informative since I didn't know that a cycle existed of this magnitude in the ocean. I've always known how water precipitates up into the atmosphere and then returns back, but never know about organisms in the ocean capable of this as well.
The article explained well how global warming could hinder this cycle. It mentions an example with a bottle cap holding fizz in a carbonated drink. This same effect could happen to our ocean waters if the earth continued to get warm. Eventually, just as with a bottle of coke, these CO2 gases surfaces contributing to more climate change. The questions experts were asking now is how quickly these gases were released at the end of the ice age.
Later the article mentions that at the end of the ice age, more than likely a majority of these gases were released in the Southern Ocean due to its cold climate. Since the surface water of the South Ocean are cold it would be ideally where CO2 gases would have been released. Now however, these same scientist are continuing their study in trying to understand how fast the carbon dioxide comes out of the ocean.
Global warming has been a popular issue since the beginning of the century . I can remember in High School discussing this very same topic in class. In the end some other type of fuel must be found before we damage the planet further. Although I may not be around to see the ending affects of global warming I sure don't want the future generations to struggle because of our mishaps. Sadly, I believe as with everything the reason another fuel hasn't been found is because of money reasons. If someone can make a large profit from consuming limited fossil fuels why look about for more fuel efficient sources? Maybe to this day there has already been another fuel efficient source found. In the end, if this type of consumption continues many will agree that drastic affects could happen to the earth and it's population.
I can relate to why they wanted to do this study. Civilization needs to know this type of information due to fossil fuel consumption. The article even makes mention of this stating it is urgent we understand consumption with CO1 emissions.
I didn't know that marine phytoplankton was part of the process of removing co2 from the ocean. It was very informative since I didn't know that a cycle existed of this magnitude in the ocean. I've always known how water precipitates up into the atmosphere and then returns back, but never know about organisms in the ocean capable of this as well.
The article explained well how global warming could hinder this cycle. It mentions an example with a bottle cap holding fizz in a carbonated drink. This same effect could happen to our ocean waters if the earth continued to get warm. Eventually, just as with a bottle of coke, these CO2 gases surfaces contributing to more climate change. The questions experts were asking now is how quickly these gases were released at the end of the ice age.
Later the article mentions that at the end of the ice age, more than likely a majority of these gases were released in the Southern Ocean due to its cold climate. Since the surface water of the South Ocean are cold it would be ideally where CO2 gases would have been released. Now however, these same scientist are continuing their study in trying to understand how fast the carbon dioxide comes out of the ocean.
Global warming has been a popular issue since the beginning of the century . I can remember in High School discussing this very same topic in class. In the end some other type of fuel must be found before we damage the planet further. Although I may not be around to see the ending affects of global warming I sure don't want the future generations to struggle because of our mishaps. Sadly, I believe as with everything the reason another fuel hasn't been found is because of money reasons. If someone can make a large profit from consuming limited fossil fuels why look about for more fuel efficient sources? Maybe to this day there has already been another fuel efficient source found. In the end, if this type of consumption continues many will agree that drastic affects could happen to the earth and it's population.
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