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[noshten]

The great ice sheet, larger than Mexico, is thought to be potentially vulnerable to disintegration from a relatively small amount of global warming, and capable of raising the sea level by 12 feet or more should it break up. But researchers long assumed the worst effects would take hundreds — if not thousands — of years to occur.

Now, new research suggests the disaster scenario could play out much sooner.

Continued high emissions of heat-trapping gases could launch a disintegration of the ice sheet within decades, according to a study published Wednesday, heaving enough water into the ocean to raise the sea level as much as three feet by the end of this century.

With ice melting in other regions, too, the total rise of the sea could reach five or six feet by 2100, the researchers found. That is roughly twice the increase reported as a plausible worst-case scenario by a United Nations panel just three years ago, and so high it would likely provoke a profound crisis within the lifetimes of children being born today.

Under the Ice Sheet
The vast West Antarctic ice sheet sits on bedrock that dips thousands of feet below sea level. New computer simulations suggest that the warming atmosphere and ocean could attack the ice sheet from above and below, causing sea levels to rise much faster than previously thought.

“We are not saying this is definitely going to happen,” said David Pollard, a researcher at Pennsylvania State University and a co-author of the new paper. “But I think we are pointing out that there’s a danger, and it should receive a lot more attention.”

But those same scientists emphasized that it was a single paper, and unlikely to be the last word on the fate of West Antarctica. The effort to include the newly recognized factors imperiling the ice is still crude, with years of work likely needed to improve the models.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/31/s...prod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share

Global warn me if old

Anyone have a model of what six feet sea level rise would look like for America?

Edit: found one http://geology.com/sea-level-rise/

 

[GaimeGuy]

But why we still got snowballs?

 

[d00d3n]

But why we still got snowballs?

Yeah, or Ice Cream. Something seems fishy here.

 

[blackw0lf]

Anyone have a model of what six feet sea level rise would look like for America?

Edit: found one http://geology.com/sea-level-rise/

 

[Zaptruder]

This information coupled with the oil corruption deal should essentially cause global riots.

Instead, having been slowly acclimatized to a deluge of evidence on climate change and systemic corruption at the top levels...

We're just going to do nothing and let each country suffer the externalities of the worst effects of this one by one by one... until half the world is fucked and trying to get into the other half.

 

[Cronox]

GAF should crowd fund its own cruise ship so we can all laugh at the plebs from our ocean playground.

 

[valkillmore]

Sorry, until the temperature stops going up and down throughout the year and starts going straight up, I don't believe in it.

 

[noshten]

Anyone have a model of what six feet sea level rise would look like for America?

Edit: found one http://geology.com/sea-level-rise/

Thanks for that

 

[Shaanyboi]

Sorry, until the temperature stops going up and down throughout the year and starts going straight up, I don't believe in it.

Is this a joke post?

 

[PowderedToast]

we're fucked, and i don't know what to do other than live my life and hope for the best.

 

[Sheriff_Battlesnake]

bye guys

almost made it

 

[Reverend Funk]

future looking good for me I'm about to come into some nice beachfront property

 

[wowzors]

So I know this is a glum topic but I totally misread the title and thought a model was predicting the ice sheet melting. I was incredibly confused.

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

This is absolutely terrifying

 

[Graphics Horse]

Can we build a wall to keep the ice in?¿

 

[Yamauchi]

Anyone have a model of what six feet sea level rise would look like for America?

Edit: found one http://geology.com/sea-level-rise/

Check out southern Vietnam with just +2m.

 

[Elfforkusu]

Climate change induced failed states and refugee crises will be the dominant geopolitical story of the 21st century.

 

[ezrarh]

We'll respond to it eventually. As it is happening.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

I don't know why the always point to rich cities like sydney and New York as horror stories about increases in ocean levels.

NYC, London and Hong Kong Sydney are rich enough to build dykes and other flood controls. They're not going anywhere, look at the netherlands.

People should be scared for poor countries like india and bangladesh which is were this will be felt.

 

[Felix Lighter]

Future generations are really really going to hate us. Can you imagine how infuriating video of climate change deniers from this era will be to those suffering the consequences when we are in the thick of it?

 

[NYCmetsfan]

Future generations are really really going to hate us. Can you imagine how infuriating video of climate change deniers from this era will be to those suffering the consequences when we are in the thick of it?

Do we blame everything on the past?

 

[UnemployedVillain]

I don't know why the always point to rich cities like sydney and New York as horror stories about increases in ocean levels.

NYC, London and Hong Kong Sydney are rich enough to build dykes and other flood controls. They're not going anywhere, look at the netherlands.

People should be scared for poor countries like india and bangladesh which is were this will be felt.

I think it's more because the only way the people who have any power to do anything will care is if it affects "them".

 

[Nerrel]

Sorry, until the temperature stops going up and down throughout the year and starts going straight up, I don't believe in it.

EDIT: Wait a minute, were you joking? I wrote this whole fucking thing and you were being funny.

....

Scientists have tried to use the term "climate change' because "global warming" confuses people into believing that it's a one dimensional issue of warmer temperatures. It's not. Even though warming itself is the problem, our climate's reaction is more complex than just "get warmer." Weather becomes more erratic, cycles are disrupted, currents and jet streams are impacted. That doesn't always simply lead to warmer weather everywhere all of the time.

Fox News tries to argue that global warming isn't real every time that it snows. Inhofe threw a snowball on the floor of the senate to prove that global warming wasn't real. It's a logical fallacy to draw a conclusion from such little information without considering any of the actual evidence.

For what it's worth, average temperatures have been going up year by year and we are now setting records for the warmest years on record on an almost annual basis. That's about as close to the simple "temperature going up" that's practically possible.

Bear in mind who profits from a conspiracy in this situation. Republicans always talk about a climate change hoax.... but by who? The Chinese? Nuclear power lobby? It's all a bunch of bullshit that you'd frankly have to be very ignorant to believe.

The oil industry, on the other hand, has openly conspired to convince the public that climate change is not real, and they've done so for decades. They've openly offered to pay scientists to in exchange for claiming that climate change isn't real. Leaked documents have proven that the largest oil companies have deliberate led a campaign of misinformation to prevent climate change from becoming accepted as sound science, and they've succeeded- we're still having a debate in the media over whether or not climate change is real while the debate was settled in the scientific community nearly 40 years ago. If you ever read scientific journals, you'll notice that climate change is referenced casually as a fact, as if this isn't even something that has to be argued and established at this point. It's like evolution; the scientific community is well past the point of considering this a "theory."

 

[ramuh]

Woah. Venice, New Orleans and the Nile Delta would get swallowed.

 

[Skeyser]

Imma vote for trump, he'll build us a nice wall against that migrating water

 

[ahoyhoy]

The refugee crisis will be something to behold. Hopefully the rise is slow enough where we have decades to fully relocate the hundreds of millions whose homes will no longer exist.

 

[Lightning_Roller]

Can anyone show me a pic of what would happen to southeastern North Carolina? I know my chances of living probably won't be good but I want to be sure.

 

[Flo_Evans]

I bet there is more oil under there!

 

[Jedi2016]

Can we build a wall to keep the ice in?¿

Yep. And we're gonna make Antarctica pay for it, too. Dumping all their ice in the ocean, what the fuck?

 

[lastplayed]

There's just a lot of water on Earth. The poles have been holding it back for a while, now it's time to share it around a bit.

 

[zeemumu]

Universal going to dramatic lengths to make its money back from Waterworld.

 

[adj_noun]

Quick, everyone swim to the nearest flailing polar bear*.

We can ride this out.

*look, at this rate they'll float there

 

[80s Bad Guy]

And yet many of us will drive alone to work/wherever in SUVs tomorrow.

If humans really cared, wouldn't we have restructured society in a way to seriously reduce waste emissions?

It feels like we keep whining but don't really care.

 

[VenomousCoffee]

I don't know why the always point to rich cities like sydney and New York as horror stories about increases in ocean levels.

NYC, London and Hong Kong Sydney are rich enough to build dykes and other flood controls. They're not going anywhere, look at the netherlands.

People should be scared for poor countries like india and bangladesh which is were this will be felt.

I see your point, but imo it's entirely possible that the economic turmoil caused by that level of warming will leave the US unable to protect NYC (or the UK and London, etc).

 

[Randolph Freelander]

And yet many of us will drive alone to work/wherever in SUVs tomorrow.

If humans really cared, wouldn't we have restructured society in a way to seriously reduce waste emissions?

It feels like we keep whining but don't really care.

We don't care. A good percentage of us don't even believe it, and keep voting for the politicians doing everything in their power to prevent us from doing anything about it.

 

[Xe4]

I see your point, but imo it's entirely possible that the economic turmoil caused by that level of warming will leave the US unable to protect NYC (or the UK and London, etc).

Even if shit hits the fan, the US will protect NY, DC, LA, etc. Everywhere else will slowly get worse and worse though.

Honestly GW could happen a lot of different ways, that's what's so scary about it.

 

[Elfforkusu]

And yet many of us will drive alone to work/wherever in SUVs tomorrow.

If humans really cared, wouldn't we have restructured society in a way to seriously reduce waste emissions?

It feels like we keep whining but don't really care.

If we cared, we'd have started building nuclear power plants.

Republicans deny it exists. Democrats propose half measures and then don't bother to fight for them.

I see your point, but imo it's entirely possible that the economic turmoil caused by that level of warming will leave the US unable to protect NYC (or the UK and London, etc).

What economic turmoil? War is a great driver of the economy.

 

[jerry113]

And yet many of us will drive alone to work/wherever in SUVs tomorrow.

If humans really cared, wouldn't we have restructured society in a way to seriously reduce waste emissions?

It feels like we keep whining but don't really care.

tragedy of the commons on a global international scale

 

[Lord_Byron28]

And yet many of us will drive alone to work/wherever in SUVs tomorrow.

If humans really cared, wouldn't we have restructured society in a way to seriously reduce waste emissions?

It feels like we keep whining but don't really care.

Itd be nice if America invested in rebuilding/maintaining our infrastructure. Investing in significantly fixing city and local infrastructures. Especially big metropolises like LA, DC area, NYC, etc. By improving, I don't mean just build more roads but a more sustainable approach. Larger and more efficient train systems and bus systems in big cities. As well as restructuring places to survive off alternative energy. As well as made trade agreements and made initiatives on global scale to get countries/corporations up to par with certain environmental conditions that they need to meet.

 

[Staccat0]

I think I scream about this in every political thread, but I really don't know why this is something we aren't talking about more.

 

[Ether_Snake]

People saying "we'll be fine cause the government will build walls".

No, cause the global economy would be permanently cratered. Maybe NYC wouldn't be flooded, but you'd be living in a camp on an expanded military base, everything imaginable rationed like its WW3.

 

[Surface of Me]

We so fucked. One day the waters will come crashing in and only then will some people accept global warming.

 

[Tenebrous]

Anyone have a model of what six feet sea level rise would look like for America?

Edit: found one http://geology.com/sea-level-rise/

Even a 1m rise puts parts of the UK underwater.

Check out southern Vietnam with just +2m.

Damn.

 

[jb1234]

And yet many of us will drive alone to work/wherever in SUVs tomorrow.

Or automobiles, period. We're all complicit here.

 

[ezrarh]

And yet many of us will drive alone to work/wherever in SUVs tomorrow.

If humans really cared, wouldn't we have restructured society in a way to seriously reduce waste emissions?

It feels like we keep whining but don't really care.

I'm definitely guilty of that. However, we structured our society based on fossil fuels long before anybody worried about global climate change. I think things will only change when we have accurate price signals for level of carbon emissions. Even if we got a 3 ft level rise, as long as oil and coal is cheap we'll continue our lifestyle as is.

 

[Tenebrous]

Or automobiles, period. We're all complicit here.

I don't. Despite being 27 & able to learn to drive/afford a car, I never will.

 

[IndoAssassin]

future looking good for me I'm about to come into some nice beachfront property

Have fun dealing with superpowers Hurricanes lol. I'm gonna drown.

 

[...Scatter...]

Maybe we have a climatologist on GAF that can answer this question for me:

Greenhouse gases getting trapped is the cause of the increase in temperatures. In the 80's we had a hole in the Ozone layer due to CFC usage and there was concern that it would lead to global cooling. We banned CFC's and the hole closed up. Could we hypothetically go back to using CFC's and the hole created in the Ozone layer would allow greenhouse gases to escape, reversing global warming?

Am i stupid for thinking about this?

 

[Deleted member 80556]

Read it earlier. We're fucked guys. Time to accept it. No one will bat an eye with these news, you'll still have politicians denying global warming even with their feet wet with ocean water.

I feel kind of hopeless for the world today.

Do we blame everything on the past?

I think many blame the baby boomers for the financial capabilities of millennials.

 

[Nerrel]

Maybe we have a climatologist on GAF that can answer this question for me:

Greenhouse gases getting trapped is the cause of the increase in temperatures. In the 80's we had a hole in the Ozone layer due to CFC usage and there was concern that it would lead to global cooling. We banned CFC's and the hole closed up. Could we hypothetically go back to using CFC's and the hole created in the Ozone layer would allow greenhouse gases to escape, reversing global warming?

Am i stupid for thinking about this?

You're onto a great Futurama episode