Talk:West Antarctic Ice Sheet

Link to meters?

Seriously. I suppose for an American the meter is something strange and unknown, but this link is a bit insulting to the reader. I mean, you could link to the number 5 too. Piet 09:30, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

No problem in the next 100 years?

THE WAIS has been retreating 1200 km since the end of the last ice age http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn1806 It's solid work," says Robert Bindschadler of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Bindschadler had previously warned that the West Antarctic ice sheet could melt in 4000 years if long-term trends continued, leading to significant rises in sea level.

The original research was published in Science (vol 295, p 476) whereas A non published report to the British Government hardly qualifies as anything more than chatter. 07:33, 15 September 2006 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.89.57.223 (talk • contribs)

The link you provided is bad. But here's a 2001 article from that magazine: [1] that says The new research shows that the largest glacier in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is now losing far more ice than is being replenished by snow. "In terms of ice discharge, this is nothing like anyone has seen before - it's a huge amount of ice," says Andrew Shepherd at the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, University College London.

And here's a 2005 article from the magazine: [2]: The massive west Antarctic ice sheet, previously assumed to be stable, is starting to collapse, scientists warned on Tuesday. John Broughton 12:29, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Okay, the January 2002 article you cited finally did appear. It describes this: A new radar study shows that the ice sheet feeding the Ross Ice Streams is growing. And here's what Ian Joughin, the author of the study, said (quoted in the article): two nearby West Antarctic glaciers are thinning rapidly, so the trend cannot be extended across the continent.

In short, you've cited a four-year-old article about a study of PART of the WAIS, a study done bby someone who is quoted as directly disagreeing with what you seem to arguing. John Broughton 16:42, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

I misunderstood the inclusion of Greenlands ice sheet in an article about Antarctica. The Times article refers to Coral reef studies (the data) which show an extra increase of 9-11 ft ( not 20ft). There is no 'data' supporting instability of below sea level Antartic ice sheets ( which have retreated 1200km since the end of the last ice age and continue to do so). Other areas had continental ice sheets , I understand Britain alone had an ice sheet up to 2km thick which could also account for the missing '10ft'( how this becomes 20 ft worries me). This just as likely an hypothesis , Britain being very likely to follow melting in Greenland

Your statement that This just as likely an hypothesis is problematical, given Wikipedia:No original research. If you can cite a source that says that Greenland melt could have resulted in British melt which would explains the extra sea rise, then fine, put that text and its source into the article. Otherwise, please leave the article as is (supported by its cites). John Broughton 18:12, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your patience with my clangers - obviously Britain would not be under ice if Greenland was warmer than now-. I will be getting full copies of the 2 articles in Science about the Greenland ice sheets and sea levels to understand further any limitations about this reserch . Often in reporting 'could be' and 'possibly' become certainties . Plus an extra section on the 1200km retreat of the WAIS since the end of the last ice seems to be needed as its still happening at a rate of 120m or so per year. This idea of a continuos process of retreat ( but not steady) between climate maximums may be raised in other published research.

picture

It might be a good idea to label the satellite picture that's currently there. Otherwise, what's the point?