Antarctic shelf collapse could tilt Earth's axis: researchers

Originally posted by lunarminer
reply to post by skeptic_al

 

You said, "Except....

At Antartica the bulk of the Ice is not floating, it's sitting on a land mass and
is pushing the land mass further down. No ice, the land Mass will rise up.
Fill the Bowl with a hard sponge first and see what you get."

Get your big heavy Atlas out. All of the "ice shelfs" that the articles refer to are floating on water. They will not raise the level of ocean at all, since their mass is already displaced by water.

So far it's just eating away at the edge of the cracker, it's just a matter
of time before it starts nibbling away at center.
The amount of ice disappearing is going at an exponentional rate, much like
US unemployment rate. Just a little more each month.
And just like the Unemployment rate, it's going to need a miracle to stop
or reverse it.

The Summer Ice is almost gone at the North Pole and for the first time
you can drive a boat from russia to canada.

Many of the posters on this thread have referred to the Mayan calendar ending in 2012 and the fact that many other civilizations calendar also point to this date. This is to be expected as many of the ancient civilization studied astronomy. This date only refers in all of them the ending of a cycle, the progression of the equinoxes and not the end of the world. In India they two have studied the progression of the equinoxes and have point to this date as the ending of cycle that is contained in a much larger one which continues for many more progressions before a grand cycle is completed. In fact in there system the end of the this yuga (their name for the cylce) actually is a positive sign and leads to a golden age and the ending of the a dark age. It has been many years since I studied this information. I believe they call the dark cycle a kali yuga and the larger cycle a maha yuga. There are many books writen on the subject. One that I remember was by a teacher of Yogananda and I'm sure if you find his followers webs sites they will have a list of books available. I think the author was Sri yukaswar (spelling my not be correct). I can assure this is not the time of the great inbreath. or contraction of the universe. aloha

If it were to happen - I would sit out on my beach front house in Ohio sipping margaritas enjoying life

I doubt the water would go THAT far...but I would LOVE to see the end of the world (only if it is not self-caused).

Originally posted by rken2
Many of the posters on this thread have referred to the Mayan calendar ending in 2012 and the fact that many other civilizations calendar also point to this date. This is to be expected as many of the ancient civilization studied astronomy. This date only refers in all of them the ending of a cycle, the progression of the equinoxes and not the end of the world. In India they two have studied the progression of the equinoxes and have point to this date as the ending of cycle that is contained in a much larger one which continues for many more progressions before a grand cycle is completed. In fact in there system the end of the this yuga (their name for the cylce) actually is a positive sign and leads to a golden age and the ending of the a dark age. It has been many years since I studied this information. I believe they call the dark cycle a kali yuga and the larger cycle a maha yuga. There are many books writen on the subject. One that I remember was by a teacher of Yogananda and I'm sure if you find his followers webs sites they will have a list of books available. I think the author was Sri yukaswar (spelling my not be correct). I can assure this is not the time of the great inbreath. or contraction of the universe. aloha

I am a great believer in the yuga's system of Hinduism.. I happened to read these about 8 years back and you can see the description of each yugas would fit perfectly...

moralstories.wordpress.com...

en.wikipedia.org...

Yes the hindu system seems to be the most complete cyclic picture that has been handed down to us and so much has not even been translated yet. it is ancient and still being practised today so not as the mayans a distant memory and incomplete in regards to its meaning and totallity

reply to post by Rockpuck


Rockpuck....

No, 'Gravity' in and of itself will not prevent a piece of an ice mass breaking away in the Antarctic.

You DO raise a point however, regarding whether or not the melting of that ice floe will cause a significant rise in Sea Levels WorldWide.

I have yet to see the math.....knowing that the Planet Earth is 75% water already, and some of it is bound up as ice, mostly at the poles....(Sorry, Al Gore...) I still have some reservations against total Globqal calamity.

I still do not see all of the melting ice causing enough Sea Level Rise.....to cover the entire Planet. Yes, of course....Coastal areas will be affected....but Humanity WILL survive.

Originally posted by skeptic_al


Except....

At Antartica the bulk of the Ice is not floating, it's sitting on a land mass and
is pushing the land mass further down. No ice, the land Mass will rise up.
Fill the Bowl with a hard sponge first and see what you get.

You make it sound as if Antarctica would bounce like a trampoline and spring up causing tsunamis. That is not the case, it will take Tens of thousands of years for the landmass to reach it's normal level. There are vast parts of North America still "springing back" after the last Ice Age.

reply to post by WatchNLearn


a shift in poles is another instance of our taskmasters baffling us with bull#.
Believe what you will...Jesus will return and begin a 1,007 years process to restore all things. You do not want to be left behind. There will be no picnic baskets!

reply to post by RadRevD


RadRevD....this THREAD is about the possiblility of an Antarctic Ice Shelf calving off and possibly affecting the rotation of our planet. Something that has pretty well been de-bunked....

It is NOT about JESUS....but, since YOU dangled the bait, exactly WHY would the 'son of god' need 1,007 years to do his deeds??? NO, edit here....don't answer on THIS thread....my mistake....

I mean, not to take this into another direction.....perhaps you should spout your opinions about what, and what not, 'Jesus' may accomplish in the religion forum???

Just a suggestion....



[edit on 2/11/0909 by weedwhacker]

Perhaps Jesus is frozen in the ice, and won't thaw out for another 1,007 years? Just an idea...

How would one go about figuring out how much the saline content ratio would drop when this shelf breaks off and melts?

reply to post by The Soothsayer


Sooth, the Saline density will depend on the currents where the water ice breaks off, and begins to melt....and how well the new 'fresh water ice' will merge with the salt in the immediate ocean environment.....

THIS is why the entire concept, being filled with chaotic and unpredictable consequences, results in unnecessary speculation....(sorry, Al Gore...)

Since I mentioned Al Gore, I think I should clarify....based on the premise of THIS thread, a slight ice-shift is NOT going to disprupt our Planet's rotational momentum.

This Planet is NOT a draedle!!!! (Spelling? I'm not Jewish....)....

I suppose you could inform me how gravity is going to allow this?

Because, maybe you didn't know this, but a polar shift cannot happen from surface movements.

Funny how all the continental drifts do nothing, but a sheet of ice can.


I call bull.

reply to post by Gorman91


Gorman...please do us a favor and DO NOT confuse plate tectonics with ice sheets!!!!!

Let's review, shall we?

The 'cold' crust of the Earth is hundreds of kilometers thick. By 'cold' I mean the not 'hot' mantle that lies beneath....I mean what we know as 'rock'.

EVEN though the Oceans exist UPON the Crust of the Earth, as I just described.....the thickness of the crust as compared to the depths of even the deepest Ocean pales in comparison.


Please reference my analogy to the skin of an apple as it pertains to the pruient example of the skin of our Earth, compared to the incredible size of the rest down below.

THINK about how massive our planet is....just think about it!

It has been rotating at just about the same rate for about 4 Billion years. THIS is a lot of angular momentum!!!!

Folks....(kids, if in the audience) THIS is why you stay in Science Class!!!

Let's describe angular momentum....anyone ever seen ice-skating? Bet you have.....well, do you see how a skater spreads her arms out, and slows down her rotation, then tucks in her arms and increases her rotations???

THAT is angular momentum!!!

When a planet is formed, it stabilizes into a certain rotational period....we who live here on the Earth see it as a 'day'....a '24-hour' day.

THIS is what we evolved within, and what we know. THIS is the 'day' that we call it, and the 'year' as we call it is simply how long it takes our Planet to make a full orbit once around our 'Sun'.

Now, that's a lot of info that may not seem to mean much in this thread, at first....but there IS a reason.....

IF you have stayed with my post this far then you will understand that it is scientifically impossible for a few ice sheets to break away, at either Pole, and affect the rotation of the Earth!!!

The Axis of the Earth was 'tilted' quite a long time ago....we can measure it at about 23 degrees.....but it ain't gonna be from shifting ice....maybe another Grand Impact from something in space.....just won't be an ice sheet breaking off from bloody Antarctica!!!!

Originally posted by weedwhacker
Since I mentioned Al Gore, I think I should clarify....based on the premise of THIS thread, a slight ice-shift is NOT going to disprupt our Planet's rotational momentum.

I agree. The ice will not affect the poles or planetary rotation... but, as you repeated this a few times, I believe I should also make a mention:

Threads evolve. Lines of discussion go back and forth... sometimes for good, sometimes for bad. Sure, things may wander "off subject", but at the same time, as we are discussing the basic scenario, and making corrections where needed, I see no need to constantly point out that this thread is just about the ice shelf causing a pole shift.

Hell, if every time a new line of discussion USED TO DEFEND OR CORRECT the existing thread was made into a new thread, why, we'd be out of bandwidth (again) and have numerous repeat threads (still).

reply to post by The Soothsayer


Yup!!!

Sooth, you just proved my point!!!

Start a new thread.....in order to gain 'points'.....

BUT, stay on topic!!!!!

reply to post by weedwhacker


Yes, look at how thick the planet is. Sorry pal, but it doesn't compare to the hundreds of miles of hot, energetic rotating magma.


Ice moving does not move the planet.

Know what's funny? In all the ice ages of the Earth, this never happened.

The fact of the matter is this is bull. Ice that's no more than 2-3 mile thick, even less perhaps, cannot physically move the mass of the earth.


It's just a shot to the face of physics.

Indeed, stay in science class.

reply to post by Gorman91


Gorman....I think we're actually on the same page!

Truce!!!

listen.....I agree with you! Melting ice shelves at the Antarctic WILL NOT affect our Planet's rotation in any sizeable amount.

Just trying to 'deny' ignorance....which IS one of the bastions of this website, n'est pas?

reply to post by weedwhacker


No, gravity would prevent any ice not exposed to the water from breaking off..

If there is rock underneath (Antarctica being an actual land mass) then the ice cannot simply slip away into the ocean one day.. only the parts over water already?

So the water should already be displaced to a certain extent.

reply to post by weedwhacker


Sorry, just took the time and effort to look at the OP again.


Rubbish, it is!!!

I state this now, and state it again....rubbish!!!!

Please, I invite all to go to se this rubbish video, and judge for yourselves....

The only thing I know about physics is how to spell it, but I do know that the moon drives the tides. Could exploding a bomb on the moon and releasing a megaton of moon debris in outer space effect the oceans of the earth??

The LCROSS explosion is set to happen this month.
www.foxnews.com...

The U.S. military has been experimenting with nuclear explosions/missles and HAARP for 50 years.