"Breakup Of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf"

[jayfish]

Here is a major precursor to what happened here. It may have started as early as 2000.

"Breakup Of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf"

One of scariest things, to me, about this precursor event is:

The bad news didn’t stop there. Lying along the northern coast of Ellesmere Island in northern Canada, the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf had dammed an epishelf lake, a body of freshwater that floats on denser ocean water. This epishelf lake, located in Disraeli Fiord, was host to a rare ecosystem, and it was the largest and best-understood epishelf lake in the Northern Hemisphere. When the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf fractured, the epishelf lake suddenly drained out of Disraeli Fiord, spilling more than 3 billion cubic meters of fresh water into the Arctic Ocean.

Add that water to the fresh water locked up in the ice shelf itself and that's a lot of fresh water we've lost in the last five years. I'm no scientist, but it appears to me as though our days are numbered. Meh... At least Saddam is going to hang by the neck until dead.

Jay

The Ward Hunt Shelf is on the north-east coast of the island. It has what appears to be a little rock in the middle of it. that rock is Ward Hunt Island. If you look closely you can distinguish the line that separates the winter ocean ice from the Ward Hunt Shelf.

Additional resources:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/shownh....
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF16/1665.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/09/0309230651...


Edited To Correct Factual Error

[leftchick]

1. fuck!

I want to go hide in a cave but I can't because I have two young children who are inheriting this fucking catastrophe. This is the end folks.

[jayfish]

4. More Like The...

beginning of a long and tortuous end. Much in line with Pentagons doomsday scenario.

Jay

[leftchick]

7. long and torturous for my children

[jayfish]

8. Mine Too....

Mine too.

Jay

[flashlighter]

5. if anyone needs me,

I'll be hiding under my bed....

[Bridget Burke]

11. No, get on TOP of the bed.

(Bunk beds might be even better. Not so good for your love life, though.)

[newyawker99]

15. Hi flashlighter!!

Welcome to DU!!

[dogindia]

2. fuck.fuck.fuck. K and R.

[leftchick]

3. this should put anyone with a modicum of intelligence

in the "hair on fire" catagory!

[Monkeyman]

6. Holy Crap

[Double T]

9. Homo sapiens will eradicate themselves from Earth by the end of this century..........

It may give the rest of the living creatures on this planet a fighting chance to survive.

[leftchick]

10. I guess that is the plus

a do over.

[Double T]

12. Remember what happened with "Planet of the Apes".

Fiction turns out to be real life.

[leftchick]

13. that is exactly what I was envisioning

except I believe it is doubtful homosapiens will survive.

[leftchick]

14. that is exactly what I was envisioning

except I believe it is doubtful homosapiens will survive.

[midnight]

18. Is this the Rapture I hear so much about these days?

I hope not.

[leftchick]

16. kick

cuz this is SOOOO Much More important than the chimp and saddam!

[Uncle Joe]

17. Thanks for posting jayfish

Kicked and recommended

[dysfunctional press]

19. when an Arctic ice-shelf breaks up at the end of december...

things are definitely fucked up- climactically speaking...

we may be in for mr. toad's wild ride this summer.

[stubtoe]

23. Well put.

[Rex]

20. I wonder what species will be the next to dominate the world?

Looks like our turn might be coming to an end soon.

[Lisa]

21. a biologist friend studied those epishelf lakes ...

He said that some of them were thousands of years old, and had evolved some unique genetically-isolated populations of creatures. (I think he mentioned one of the older lakes -- I can't recall if it was this one or not -- had some freshwater cod, which developed from the saltwater type.)

Well, if the entire lake drained, I guess we can kiss that particular batch of biota goodbye.

[Warren DeMontague]

22. Yeah, well, that's why Science is just the French Word for "Satan".

All this Global Warming Hoaxery and Evolution Rubbish is clearly designed to make Al Gore money and tempt teenagers into premarital fornication.

[EstimatedProphet]

24. USA!USA!USA!

Who the fuck cares about a bunch of ice? We kicked Saddam's ass! Were badasses! USA!USA!USA!

Just giving the freeper rebuttal to the importance of this post.