Rising Tide
First published by the Energy Syndicate - December 2020
For some time environmentalists have been warning of rising sea levels. The cause of the observed rise in sea level and the projected rise are linked to 3 primary factors – Thermal expansion, melting glaciers and the loss of the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica.
Thermal expansion happens when water heats up. About half the rise in sea level over the last 25 years is due to the water getting warmer and taking up more space. Melting glaciers in the summer use to be replenished during the winter but the warmer weather is seeing a melting and reduction in the size of the glaciers. The ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are also melting due to the warmer waters.
If all the ice melted, the sea level would rise by an estimated 216 feet. Such a rise would cause entire cities, regions and countries to disappear. This scenario is not likely to happen. The current rise however, combined with increasingly powerful storms could quite easily cause storm surges capable of swamping major coastal areas. Places such as Florida and cities along the east coast are at particular risk.
To find out more about the research and data click the link for the NASA site on sea level change
A68 Iceberg Splites
First published by the Energy Syndicate – January 2021
In July 2017, a huge iceberg tore away from the Antarctic ice shelf known as Larsen C. The iceberg, which was named ‘A68’, had a surface area of 5800 square kilometres. Since then parts of the iceberg have split (known as calving) but the mother berg has remained - renamed A68a.
At the end of January 2021, scientists have reported that satellite images showed this floating giant has developed a crack and is now split in two sections floating together off South Georgia – it will not be long before they separate – marking the beginning of the end for A68 which originally made up 12% of the ice shelf which is reducing at an alarming rate.
Antarctic Ice Shelf Reducing
First published by the Energy Syndicate – February 2021
Last month we reported the splitting of the worlds largest iceberg A68a. This month we are reporting the end of February 2021 saw a new iceberg being carved from the Brunt ice shelf in the Antarctic. It is still to be named by the US National Ice Centre. The iceberg is an estimated 1270 sq km. Although substantially smaller than A68a, it is still big; about the same size as Monmouthshire in Wales.
The event was not unexpected. In 2017 the British Antarctic Surveys research station, called Halley, was relocated away from the area in anticipation of the calving event that has just occurred - in the Weddell Sea area of the Antarctic, directly south of the Atlantic Ocean.
