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[AstroNut325]

Source: Link

Key excerpts:

More specifically, the satellite-based study found that atop the coastal Langhovde Glacier in East Antarctica’s Dronning Maud Land, large numbers of “supraglacial” or meltwater lakes have been forming — nearly 8,000 of them in summer between the year 2000 and 2013. Moreover, in some cases, just as in Greenland, these lakes appear to have then been draining down into the floating parts of the glacier, potentially weakening it and making it more likely to fracture and break apart.

The research raises concern, for the following reason: Mounting evidence suggests one reason that Greenland has been melting so fast lately is precisely these kinds of lakes. In the summer as air temperatures warm, lakes form on top of the ice sheet, and on its finger-like glaciers that extend outwards into deep ocean fjords.

These lakes can then suddenly disappear all at once, or flow into rivers that drain into the ice below, lubricating the ice and helping to increase the lurch forward of glaciers. Sometimes, researchers have even been able to document fresh water flowing outward directly into the sea from the base of a glacier. That injection of cold fresh water into salty water can then create tornado-like underwater flow patterns at the submerged glacier front that cause further ice loss.

Can we start making lifestyle changes to combat this or are we just going to ride the gravy train till I have a oceanfront property?

Melt this thread if old.

 

[SwiftDeath]

We'll need a lot of buckets...

Seriously though it seems like a bad idea to just let all that surface fresh water go into the sea. So little of the world's water supply is surface fresh water.

 

[mcz117chief]

So little of the world's water supply is surface fresh water.

It's like 2% right?

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

If the Ross Ice Shelf collapses into the sea it's going to be bad .

 

[Archer]

Too late to fix it.

 

[SwiftDeath]

It's like 2% right?

2.5% I guess? Most of that is in glaciers and the like but this still sounds like a bad thing for numerous reasons

 

[mcz117chief]

2.5% I guess? Most of that is in glaciers and the like but this still sounds like a bad thing for numerous reasons

That source looks pretty old, 1993. Have there been any major shifts since then?

 

[PsychoSoldier]

I look forward to people ignoring all this stuff when a single snowflake hits the ground in a few months.

But this seems bad.

 

[finalflame]

Can we start making lifestyle changes to combat this or are we just going to ride the gravy train till I have a oceanfront property?

Melt this thread if old.

No, we really can't and won't start making lifestyle changes. One of the key tenets of sustainability is that the advances we make must be compatible with our current standards of living -- you're not going to get people to regress to earlier standards insofar as material goods and conveniences are concerned.

What we can do is make technological and industrial advances to combat the much larger causes of GHG emissions such as large freighters, automobiles, moving to clean energy sources, etc.

 

[Pancake Mix]

Too late to fix it.

Born too late to fix it.
Born too early to deal with the worst of the consequences.
Sorry next generations.

 

[fierrotlepou]

We need some huge scientific breakthroughs or a miracle at this point if we want the human race to survive for another 200 years.

 

[TheGrue]

Can we start making lifestyle changes to combat this or are we just going to ride the gravy train till I have a oceanfront property?

Meh. I live at 6300 feet, so I can live with it.

 

[AstroNut325]

No, we really can't and won't start making lifestyle changes. One of the key tenets of sustainability is that the advances we make must be compatible with our current standards of living -- you're not going to get people to regress to earlier standards insofar as material goods and conveniences are concerned.

What we can do is make technological and industrial advances to combat the much larger causes of GHG emissions such as large freighters, automobiles, moving to clean energy sources, etc.

Being compatible with current ways is only allowed if you're not compromising the future. We have to become carbon negative to make any meaningful dent towards reversing the effects. And being carbon negative isn't going to happen without reduction in lifestyles in the developed world.

 

[hydragonwarrior]

"This has been happening for years! Why can't science explain that?!"

Pretty much my entire FB feed when someone posts a climate change article.

 

[PowderedToast]

there has been a paradigm shift in our adoption of renewables in the last few years, more than most people are aware of. but it will definitely be a race against time

I suppose in a positive light, we finally know why this is happening

 

[maquiladora]

Meanwhile, Northern Hemisphere sea ice extent is lowest on record this year. Arctic sea ice extent is currently second lowest on record.

 

[Neo C.]

Too late to fix it.

Probably too late, but especially too passive. My god, US politics are so frustrating:
Vox: Ten years after Al Gore's movie, the climate debate in the US has devolved into nonsense.

 

[Usobuko]

It's very infuriating as a citizen of Earth and being completely helpless with the ways the big corporations had act and lobbied for their special interest.

Can we have a list who exactly are these people? Fuck them and whoever that benefit form this.

 

[SPCTRE]

I'm just saying don't build a house close to the coast. Take a look at a topographic map before you do. Kanye shrug.

 

[jeff_rigby]

It's very infuriating as a citizen of Earth and being completely helpless with the ways the big corporations had act and lobbied for their special interest.

Can we have a list who exactly are these people? Fuck them and whoever that benefit form this.

We have reversed our carbon footprint to 1998 levels because of Fracking and the move to Natural gas which has 1/5th the carbon and is less "dirty". The problem is the developing countries which have overtaken us like China and India. Bush released information on how to safely create Nuclear Power plants to China and India hoping to reduce their move to Coal as a cheap and fast to implement energy for their rapidly increasing need for Electricity.

With regulation we have moved Steel and other industry off shore to countries that are not as efficient in their use of energy and that INCREASES the world carbon footprint...this is stupid if we truly wish to decrease our carbon footprint. If it's about power and another revenue stream then it makes sense. Or is it just stupidity and knee jerk politics?

 

[OldMan]

We need some huge scientific breakthroughs or a miracle at this point if we want the human race to survive for another 200 years.

I mean, worst case scenario is that we're living on top of the water (some already do) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasteading

 

[Nudull]

Our planet is utterly screwed, film at 11.

 

[DedValve]

Born too late to fix it.
Born too early to deal with the worst of the consequences.
Sorry next generations.

Unless your 90 years old you wont havento worry about not seeing some dramatic near world ending shit in your lifetime.


A major problem is that people still think this will hit the next generation in a distant future from now which more evidence keeps suggesting otherwise.

 

[noshten]

Unless your 90 years old you wont havento worry about not seeing some dramatic near world ending shit in your lifetime.


A major problem is that people still think this will hit the next generation in a distant future from now which more evidence keeps suggesting otherwise.

In most likelyhood we would be seeing catastrophic events unfold in less than 20 years. Most climate models don't really know how extremly weather can change in the space of a few years. For the seas to rise even a meter it could have unintended conquences which have other adverse effects on the climate which can in no way be predicted by the current climate simulations we are making. There have been cases of change in the Earth's average temperature by 10 degrees in the space of a decade - granted those last happened in the last Ice Age but personally I think that its foolish to believe we won't be impacted in the near future. At the very least people should start prepairing mentaly for the worst.

 

[sirap]

What would the world be like if Al Gore won in 2000? Are we living in the darkest timeline?

 

[Nikodemos]

What would the world be like if Al Gore won in 2000? Are we living in the darkest timeline?

Hard to believe it would be 180-degree different. It's not like the fossil fuel industry lobby would've disappeared overnight.

 

[CoolOff]

What would the world be like if Al Gore won in 2000? Are we living in the darkest timeline?

https://www.ted.com/talks/al_gore_the_case_for_optimism_on_climate_change

Al has a fairly positive outlook though.

 

[Neo C.]

What would the world be like if Al Gore won in 2000? Are we living in the darkest timeline?

We would still be here, albeit probably with a tad less carbondioxyd and a bit more progress in green tech. After all, many breakthroughs in green tech only happen recently.