more climate change good news

August 10, 2006 9:43 PM

More gloomy newson the whole climate change thing. It seems that Greenland's ice caps are melting three times as fast as previously measured (ultimately, in a thousand years or so, leading to a 6.5m sea level rise). While at the other end of the planet, it's not snowing as much as we hoped to limit sea level rises. But hey, we can still laugh about it, right?
posted by wilful (29 comments total)

Why do you say this is gloomy? One could just as easily argue that this is healthy.
posted by mischief at 10:11 PM on August 10, 2006

Duh, it's supposed to be green.
posted by smackfu at 10:14 PM on August 10, 2006

So this is it? We're all going to die?
posted by pompomtom at 10:29 PM on August 10, 2006

Maybe the extra water will stop that rainforest killing drought thing...
posted by Hicksu at 10:36 PM on August 10, 2006

"The only sure way to keep receiving climate research funding is to keep claiming impending climate catastrophe."
posted by nightchrome at 10:42 PM on August 10, 2006

That's the stupidest fucking thing I ever heard, nightchrome. Argue the scientific basis or shut the fuck up.
posted by nanojath at 10:54 PM on August 10, 2006

Which idiot are you quoting, nightchrome? Ah, a shill from an astroturf front group.

There would be far, far more money in disproving it. Not only would fossil fuel interests love to fund anyone who could convincingly do so, but fame and recognition attend scientists who overthrow orthodox ideas.

If refrigeration companies had the clout of oil ones the ozone hole would have reached Auckland by now.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 10:56 PM on August 10, 2006

And by way of follow-up - what is the tie between free-market economic views and climate-change denial? Or tobacco company apologism?

There's your pecuniary interest influencing research outcomes right there. Talk accusing your opponents of your own flaws!
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 10:59 PM on August 10, 2006

Woah, some people are clearly off their meds today.
It was funny. Relax. Take a walk outside. Enjoy the fresh air and sunshine (while you still have it).
posted by nightchrome at 11:05 PM on August 10, 2006

Enjoy the fresh air and sunshine

yeah... somewhere between a sunny afternoon in Japan and the depth of a Minneapolis long past midnight lies a yawning gulf within which sinks any glimmer of my having a sense of humor about this subject at the moment.

I've been personally and thoughtfully tracking the science on this topic since 1994 and the fact that, 12 years later I am still consistently hearing absolutely genuine protestations of truly idiotic partisan objections to the overwhelmingly convincing theory of anthropogenic global climate change has got my sense of outrage on a bit more of a hair trigger than my sense of irony. Carry the fuck on, all.
posted by nanojath at 11:17 PM on August 10, 2006

I saw a funny headline on fark. I saw a related topic on mefi. I copied and pasted the quote from the headline to the topic here. There's really no reason to break out the obscenities. You don't think it was funny. That's cool. Sorry.
Global climate change is happening, if people claim it isn't, they're not worth listening to, so ignore them. Exploding at them will only make bystanders think they might be onto something.
"There is no point in arguing with an idiot. They will just drag you down to their level and beat you with experience."
posted by nightchrome at 11:30 PM on August 10, 2006

"Carry the fuck on, all."

We will.

"There's really no reason to break out the obscenities."

That's how MeFites debate issues.
posted by mischief at 11:44 PM on August 10, 2006

That's how MeFites debate issues.

Fuck yeah!
posted by nightchrome at 11:48 PM on August 10, 2006

Laugh about it, shout about it, when you've got to choose. Any way you look at this, you lose.
posted by Eideteker at 1:06 AM on August 11, 2006

"Woah, some people are clearly off their meds today."

Oh, and it's WHOA, goddamit, you stupid cocksmoking ratpissdrinking motherfucking assmonkeyist. Get it right or shut the fuck up.
posted by Eideteker at 1:07 AM on August 11, 2006

Mischief, I am interested to hear how you think icecaps melting 3x faster could be considered healthy?
posted by verisimilitude at 3:23 AM on August 11, 2006

I'm more concerned about the fact that we currently have 2 global warming threads on the front page. Couldn't you have just posted this to the other thread?
posted by antifuse at 3:32 AM on August 11, 2006

The climate debate makes me realize why the 'sceintists' on Krypton didn't believe Jor-El when he said doom was comming.

Oh, yeah, chill everyone. I like cold weather so I'm screwed. I guess I'll move back to Minnesota.
posted by Lord Chancellor at 3:32 AM on August 11, 2006

Hmmm. The post is one account of the GRACE experiment using gravity to detect changes in surface mass. The data GRACE is producing is new and there's an obvious question over calibration - specifically the GRACE data (which has, at present, no track record) doesn't agree with other satellite and surface measurements of ice loss.

Those other measurements may be wrong and the GRACE data correct but that's quite a step and even the University of Texas team behind GRACE seem unsure:

Other factors could account for the discrepancy, acknowledges Clark Wilson, one of the University of Texas team. For instance, scientists do not fully understand the ocean tides in the Arctic Ocean, and there are not a lot of weather stations to monitor air pressure there. GRACE only measures changes in gravity due to changing mass - it cannot tell if that results from changes in air, water, rock or ice.

So to find changes due to ice loss alone, the researchers have to subtract the estimated contribution of water and air. If that is not well known, it results in higher uncertainties in the interpretation.

Over time GRACE and related satellite measurements will become very useful, as the results form a set of data over time which can be calibrated with surface observations. In the meantime they tell us something, but it is hard to be sure about what.

Realclimate on the current state of knowledge on Greenland Ice.
posted by grahamwell at 3:52 AM on August 11, 2006

I'm more concerned about the fact that we currently have 2 global warming threads on the front page. Couldn't you have just posted this to the other thread?

The other one was a joke (wasn't it?)

This is SCIENCE!

;



But seriously, quite a lot of people think that climate change is just about the most important thing facing humanity right now, or at least well up there on the oh fuck list. I tend to agree with them, and consider the two science factiods that I came across today to be more interesting and worthwhile than post 70 or whatever in the last FPP. Or I'm just trying to win $30, yeah that's it.
posted by wilful at 3:54 AM on August 11, 2006

Yet more evidence that something is dramatically changing in the enviroment

Yet more bullshit to hide the fact.

The good think about all of humanity dying is the assholes die along with the rest of humanity.
posted by eriko at 5:11 AM on August 11, 2006

The good think about all of humanity dying is the assholes die along with the rest of humanity.

You'd like to think so, but I'm afraid they'll be in their weatherproofed bunkers, laughing cruelly at the rest of us as we drown, fry, or choke to death on our own exhaust.
posted by languagehat at 6:06 AM on August 11, 2006

"The good think about all of humanity dying is the assholes die along with the rest of humanity."

Thus we are all truly part of the solution.
posted by hal9k at 6:07 AM on August 11, 2006

Duh, it's supposed to be green.

Well, back in the day, the aphorism was "Iceland's green and Greenland's ice," but soon it'll be more like "Iceland's tropical and Greenland's submerged."
posted by pax digita at 6:22 AM on August 11, 2006

Woah, some people are clearly off their meds today.
It was funny. Relax.
posted by nightchrome at 11:05 PM PST

People of the blue, Rush Limbaugh has now graced us with his presence.
posted by rough ashlar at 6:27 AM on August 11, 2006

speaking of bull$hit and @$$holes, I'm one of the latter who was full of the former back when I scoffed at Gore for sighing impatiently at W one time too many during a debate, but since I've seen his movie, I'm all like, "Well, hold on a sec...."
posted by pax digita at 6:33 AM on August 11, 2006

1) It will take time to confirm GRACE is correct, don't panic.
2) The Amazon thing (which I posed) turned out to be overblown. RealClimate on the Amazon drought.
posted by stbalbach at 11:18 AM on August 11, 2006

veris: Survival of the fittest.
posted by mischief at 12:10 PM on August 11, 2006

2) The Amazon thing (which I posed) turned out to be overblown. RealClimate on the Amazon drought.
posted by stbalbach at 1:18 PM CST on August 11

That makes me feel good about something I read for a change.
posted by ninjew at 1:24 PM on August 11, 2006