Articles by ecothrust at Technorati Headline Animator

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Atmosphere cushions warming effect... still icebergs melt away

Our View:
In the year 2002 Larsen B Ice shelf, a massive 1000 square mile, 600 feet thick island of ice that had been stable for almost 12,000 years in Antarctica broke up and disappeared in one single season.
During August 2005 the Ayles Ice shelf one of the six major ice shelves of Canada , a 3000 year old 30 square mile ice crown , almost 120 feet thick , over the top of Ellesmere Island , Nunavut disintegrated and disappeared into the Arctic seas within just 1 hour
Then in Sept 2008 , the Ross ice shelf in Antartica reported a major chunk break and
melt away almost of the size of the Jamaican island. As icebergs melt due to global warming, the sea levels rise and the deserts continue to grow.
The atmosphere now contains nearly 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide. Hundred years ago before the arrival of the industrial age these levels were about 240 ppm, which remained pretty constant since the cooling down of the earths crust. However our atmosphere works like a giant shock absorber . It will keep absorbing the emissions today and release only that part which really goes over the brim. This means that we shall experience the full effect of what we already have put into the atmosphere only in the decades to come. Meanwhile, we’re adding about 30 billion tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere annually which works to about 2 ppm. So even if we make cuts over the next two decades , our children and grandchildren will still have to cope with the melting glaciers, rising sea levels, creeping desertification and violent storm storms that have been rapidly increasing .
Some of our freinds are blogging at http://tinyurl.com/cpr2fw to highlight the effect of climate change. They are supporting Tree planting programs in Borneo & Sumatra and taking action, for it is already too late for discussions, conferences and the likes . It is time to act.

We could be wrong. Tell us if we are & why? We encourage diverse opinion even if it is from commercially interested groups opposed to our thinking.

No comments:

Post a Comment