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Warming planet, melting ice sheets: OC lecture Tuesday

March 30th, 2009, 4:18 pm · 5 Comments · posted by

Sheets of ice that cover Antarctica and Greenland are melting rapidly in response to planetary warming, so the message to be delivered at a UC Irvine breakfast lecture Tuesday seems all the more puzzling: Scientific research in the area has fallen behind.

“On the good side, we are learning a lot about ice sheets and climate,” said Eric Rignot, a researcher at UC Irvine and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “On the downside, we are facing a complex problem, and we are a little bit under-equipped to respond to the challenge.”

Rignot has gained international attention for his studies of ice sheets. He and other scientists recently announced new findings at a press conference in Copenhagen that suggest an estimate by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on likely sea level rise due to ice-sheet melting was far too conservative.

By 2100, if the loss of ice mass continues at the present rate, sea levels could rise as much as three feet — twice the IPCC estimate, Rignot said.

Last year, Rignot found that new, broad-scale satellite measurements showed that the melting of Antarctic glaciers, hastened by changes in ocean currents, had accelerated 75 percent over the past decade.

Rignot says new research efforts are needed now if scientists are going to predict changes in ice sheets in the years to come.

“There are some crucial measurements needed that we don’t have,” Rignot said Monday. “Very basic stuff: How thick is the ice?”

But while more funding and more detailed observations of ice sheets are needed, Rignot says it isn’t simply a matter of pleading for more research money.

“I’m maybe a little bit concerned about the inertia of the scientific community, or of the funding agencies, to be able to make decisions and set up programs, and put them in place now so they can provide critical data tomorrow,” he said.

Rignot says he sees public confusion about ice sheets as well.

“There’s been a lot of brou-ha-ha about the slowdown of some of the Greenland glaciers” in terms of their rate of melting, he said.

In reality, however, the rate of melting will have its ups and downs over time, rather than continuing in a linear manner.

“Ice sheets are losing an increasing amount of mass every year,” he said. “It will go through humps and hollows, but we are going to see it go much faster.”

The free lecture — complete with breakfast — goes from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. Tuesday, at the University Club. Request a reservation by calling 949-824-7252 or events@ps.uci.edu.

(Photo of Eric Rignot by Paul R. Kennedy, courtesy UC Irvine.)

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     5 Comments

    • John S. says:
      March 31, 2009 at 7:54 am

      If CO2 is such a threat, why aren’t we going nuclear full speed ahead at least until another plentiful and reliable energy source is discovered?
      .
      How come the wastes that come from manufacturing solar PV panels that last forever are almost never publicized?
      http://www.ecolo.org/documents/documents_in_english/Myths&factsLloydMielke01.htm
      .
      Why do many of the politicians that promote the CO2 causes warming/climate change theory continue to be the biggest hydrocarbon users while imposing ever greater restrictions on the general public?
      .
      What good will carbon taxes do other than take money from workers just to put it in the hands of power grabbers that live like kings in large energy guzzling homes using hydrocarbon fuels?
      .
      The answer? Control Freak bureaucrats looking for another phony excuse to regulate us into a third world dictatorship.

    • Jim says:
      March 31, 2009 at 8:17 am

      Global warming is a lie to stir up fear so people would acquiesce to taxes on the carbon cycle. That is to say, EVERYTHING! Who doesn’t want to save the planet? Who doesn’t want to pass on a good environment to the next generation. That’s how they get you. Go read Old Farmer’s Almanac 2009 article about the now COOLING trend. They are called seasons. We not only have seasons in a year, but also larger seasons over decades and centuries. Look at what they want, then trace back to the source of the information. It is a group of fear-mongerers who will profit greatly from cap-and-trade global taxes which will regulate every facet of our lives. On our end we’ll be thrust into a new dark age. This is a false environmental issue to also distract us from real problems: GMO foods and genetic manipulation, toxic waste, fluoride and other chemicals in our water, estrogen hormones in our plastics, etc. It is also designed to shut down the growing grassroots movement toward organic food, alternative medicine, and real environmental improvements. Wake up and don’t let them fool you on this. God bless!

    • fern says:
      March 31, 2009 at 11:44 am

      AMEN John S. CO2 my ASSts another way for the to get more money and get richer. lets see al crazy gore does he implement all this garbage on his mansions.

    • reality checker says:
      March 31, 2009 at 12:14 pm

      Why do you think bureaucrats want to regulate us into a third-world dictatorship? What would anyone — politicians, bureaucrats, scientists researchers — have to gain from the U.S. becoming a third-world dictatorship? That is a very puzzling assumption.

    • Tax Payer says:
      March 31, 2009 at 12:37 pm

      Yes on Nuke power
      But they need to refine the nuke waste like the rest of the world does to cut down on the waste

      Also clean (or cleaner) coal
      Its too bad Power Companies can get a low or no interest government loan to upgrade and clean up all coal fired power plants in the country
      Bet that would cut green house gasses by 50%
      Thats a start

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