Polar bears drown, new islands appear in Arctic

[walterick]

This is real, people. Let's stop spending trillions spreading our form of government in the middle east and start spending some money on securing our own future!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060915/...nt_arctic_dc_1

[another view]

Yes, arctic ice has been on the decline for years. Did you happen to catch the interview on NPR with Lonnie Dupre from Minnesota? He and one other guy made it to the North Pole in the summer which is almost impossible. It was a combination of hiking across icebergs and paddling canoes between them. Scientists were shocked to see their photographs, comparing their images to those taken a few years ago (must have been aboard research vessels).

[adina]

You do know that global warming is just something made up by those crazy liberals to make our enviromentally-friendly president look bad. That's not real. Probably those islands are actually giant sea turtles, that have surfaced for air.

[walterick]

Steve,

I didn't cath that. I haven't gotten a consistent NPR fix for several weeks now. It sounds about right, though. Al Gore shows a world map of what the planet would look like if the ice caps melted entirely. Let's just say that the WTC site would be underwater!

[walterick]

Of course! How foolish I am for being douped!

The Decider has done such a good job of protecting the environment, it's a miracle the hole in the ozone layer hasn't fixed itself right back up! What with the Healthy Forests Initiative, and relaxed air quality standards for major corporations, you'd think Green Peace would have given him a cub scout badge for eco-friendliness.

Jeb in '08!

[Tom_Proctor]

Anybody ever notice, when you put an icecube in water, it displaces more water than when it melts?

Think about it.

[walterick]

Tom,

You're suggesting that the scientists calculating the rise in sea level world-wide don't take into account the amount of water each melted ice cap would produce?

[mwfanelli]

Anybody ever notice, when you put an icecube in water, it displaces more water than when it melts?

Think about it.

Yep, Archimedes noticed something like that! OK, another science lesson. When you dump ice into water (or any liquid) it will displace water (think of it as making room). Once the ice already in the water melts, there is NO change in level.

The melting of ice in the Arctic has no effect on rising ocean levels. Ice melting that is located on continents do. Melting Greenland ice raises ocean levels as does Antarctica (an actual land continent).

[adina]

We are so lucky to have our very own science teacher! So what's your thoughts on the giant sea turtle theory? That's the one I'm going with.

[walterick]

Ah, now I get what he was saying. I should have said "polar ice cap."

[mwfanelli]

Ah, now I get what he was saying. I should have said "polar ice cap."

Only the Antarctica ice cap on land. The arctic is just an ocean, melting the northern ice cap will have no effect.

[walterick]

I'll bet we could train those sea turtles to line up in a row so we could walk from New York to the North Pole on sea turtles.

Could happen...