Freshening of deep Antarctic waters worries experts

yes, and the fast rate of melting glaciers is what I believe is causing this as well. It is the subtle telltale signs like this that we must be very concerned about.

I think most people who hear this will not pay as much attention to it simply because we have a 'It doesn't effect me' mentality. To some degree this is true, but the importance of ice is greater then one might originally think- especially sea ice. The southern pole's ice is the only habitat for the food of many species of penguins. Whether we acknowledge it or not the destruction of our planet, no matter how small or illrelevant we might think it is, in the end is still destruction and will effect either us or our children.

there's something oddly exciting about this! the earth is doing something beyond our full understanding and antarctica is becoming more and more fascinating. the melting, the freshening, the water storms, and flooding...we better start evolving with it!

as sad as this may seem, i just kinda hope i live til 50 or older..

im still in high school and i kinda wish i didnt have to worry about the future

I agree...watch the movie " The Day After Tomorrow" it is enlightening that the real global climate change wil happen sooner than the predicted 100 years. And when govenments simply do not put any energy into finding a plausible way to at least try to slow it down.....crash and burn man. This is my home and I can't freakin move to a better place!

It'll have effect on everyone, when the fresh water and salt water mixes, we'll be in a Ice Age. Al' Gore said so.

This is the main problem - up till now we have slow linear change that is essentially effecting us only in small ways, but our biosphere is in a delicate balance that has evolved slowly to that balance point over billions of years. I fear the point when the linear change becomes non-linear (i.e. something breaks) and throws this whole balance off. This could be an early sign of something that could stop that global current conveyer belt and hurl Europe into an ice age. I hope not.

Merge9: I'm with you. I hope not. And this is what people who constantly say 'global warming' isn't real if it gets cold out need to understand. It isn't just about warm temperatures.

Argon18: The Day After Tomorrow was extreme in the presentation, but the context nevertheless was worth paying attention to. The balance of the planet is very delicate. One little thing goes out of whack and we are in trouble.

The, "it doesn't affect me", mentality stems from the fact that we have a government that occasionally changes in its ideology. We all know that our "officials" have been "talking" about air, water and thermal pollution for decades. Yet relatively little seems to be getting done. Whenever we have a government that seems to be progressive, we make progress in doing our duty to save the planet. But whenever a group of politicians, like the neocons get into power, we relax all of the EPA rules so the neocon constituency can get some relief from government regulation.

Only problem is, our planet can't stand for relief from government regulation. Just like our market place can't stand for relief from government regulation. Our planet is going to go down the tubes and our market place is going to go down the tubes, because there is a certain group of people that seem to be susceptible to the neocon wedge issue political campaign style.

While we continue to follow the same old campaign style, the way our beltway guys use wedge issues to divide us, we are just not going to be able to solve our major problems. This is what Barack is talking about. All we do is talk about distractions. We can't solve any of our problems because this is a government "of the people" type situation and if we continue to allow ourselves to be divided on distractions, the politicians are going to continue to have their way with us, and our planet and our market place are going to continue down the tubes.

Who are these so called "experts"?
The earth is always changing, whether we are here or not. Global warming is a hoax! Wake up SHEEPLE! Don't believe all the force fed lies!

Hmm, I believe this was also quoted during Galileo's time as well:

Who are these 'experts' telling us the world is round and that the Earth is not the center of the universe? Don't believe their trickery!

WiscoRebel - the so called experts are most the worlds Scientific community baring a small percentage of fringe scientists and they seem to agree that man's activities in relation to burning carbon has an effect on the climate. Now I'm no Scientist but it's also seems pretty likely to me that man burning everything he can find to burn on this planet in the space of a couple of hundred years and at the same time chopping down most it's carbon absorbing forests is likely to have some effect - so I'm inclined to believe them.

I can only presume you are a climatic scientist with your own data disputing it rather than believing some 'force fed lies' but this time against it - or is it just a hunch you have? Anyway I'd be more than happy to see where your evidence comes from and what makes that particular evidence the truth rather than a bunch of lies.

Wow . . . look . . . we've discovered another natural process that we don't understand. Let me guess . . . any previously unknown natural process must be a result of the evils of capitalism and is a signal of our doom. Great scam you got going here folks. Let's see how much more money we can put in Al's pockets.

Yes the Earth is always changing, and pouring pollutants into the air, water and land for decades is going to make it change faster. It's a lie to think that the consequences of that can be avoided.

It's not going to make much difference to the Earth itself since it'll all be corrected in geological time, but it's going to be critical to the people living on it since even minor climate changes effect the survival rate.

What WiscoRebel should wake up to is that trading short term profit is causing long term catastrophe for a major portion of the world population. The Earth will still be here, but a lot of the people won't be.

Some of the things that have been proposed to combat it have been only jumping on the bandwagon to make profits, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a serious problem, just that it needs better solutions than have been suggested already.

The Earth will still be here, but a lot of the people won't be

Wait . . . I thought that this was a good thing. Fewer people is good for Mother Earth . . . right? Isn't that part of the green creed?

You could also say that it's part of the NeoCon creed too right? Since fewer people mean more profits for the rest.

Sticking your head in the sand is certainly not good for the Earth since it won't do anything to help solve the problem

I wouldn't know, but on it's face, that makes no sense at all. As for where my head is, if down in the sand is where you've driven all science and reason, then yes, that's where my head will be. How's the view where your head is?

what if the process we call global warming is merely our planet warming up from the last "supervolcano" which occured 74000 years ago(give or take) and produced a volcanic winter,leading to the near extinction of our species?Maybe were just getting back to normal!

The science and reason supports the theory of climate change and natural processes can't account for the severity of it.

Yes there are cycles in nature but they can be thrown off by factors that contribute to pushing them to extremes.

Maybe you can't make sense of it from the sand because you're ignoring the evidence.

Take the example of the O2/CO2 cycle, if the amount of O2 being put back into the system is reduced by the amount of trees available to produce the O2 then the amounts of CO2 is going to rise.

What doesn't make sense about something as simple as that? A wider point of view is more helpful no matter where your head is at.

jawnybnsc: Well since we all don't understand it and you do, perhaps you could enlighten us instead of using it as an opportunity to attack a man who has used his money for good and to bring awareness of it to others? Or is that all people who disbelieve this have. Just snide comments about Al Gore who is the whipping boy of the skeptics movement?

As for what is occuring now, it is not natural in its pace or its severity. It is unlike what we have seen before which is why it WORRIES scientists. The ocean conveyor belt shutting down millions of years ago would not be something we would need to worry about. However, should that happen in the near future we would have plenty to worry about natural or not. Why people cannot see the devastation to humanity and other species that would cause above their political biases is beyond me.

Amusing that this 'argument' is about believing whether or not global warming is occuring. Bottom lline, the earth is changing, whatever the cause. The article indicates scientists wil study this more. Too bad that by the time they get some results, it will be to late. Maybe not too late for the planet. After all, the planet has been here and will continue to be here. The flora and fauna, as it exists now, won't necessarily be here. So it really doesn't matter what anyone believes....the planet doesn't really care what anyone believes.
There is probably already nothing we can do to change any or this...except maybe adapt to the coming new world. You see, by the time we actually notice a change happening, it is already been sent into perpetual motion and there's no turning back. That's because by the time the change is noticed...things have CHANGED. (Probably actually time to move to Canada?) So believe or not, if you don't adapt and respond, your genes will be lost from the gene pool....and it's never a bad thing to lose the genes of the individuals unable to adapt and respond....for a species anyway.

Melting the ice into the oceans has happened before with the warming and cooling cycles that happen naturally, but previously, the cycles have happened over thousands of year.

Recently, through ice core samples that date back 800,000 years, the most recent samples have determined the influx of CO2 in the atmosphere has been increasing in the past 200 years faster than any previous time period.

Dr Eric Wolff from the British Antarctic Survey - “In the core, the fastest increase seen was of the order of 30 parts per million (ppm) by volume over a period of roughly 1,000 years. The last 30 ppm of increase has occurred in just 17 years. We really are in the situation where we don't have an analogue in our records,…" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5314592.stm

Another part is the dimming of the sun through jet exhaust.

There was a study done in the 3 days right after 9/11 when commercial jets where grounded. The study conducted by David Travis of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater measured the temperatures for the three contrail-free days across the US. He then took the average temperatures from 1971-2000 across the same area and discovered that during the 3 days, the overall range from hot during the day to cold at night was 2 degrees greater.

That’s just in 3 days of no dimming.

bingo anjela. Climate change is bigger than we are. We don't understand the process. We're not even entirely sure whether CO2 is driving temperature or temperature is driving CO2. We know that the planet has been hotter than this. We know that the planet has had higher CO2 levels than this. We know that the planet has been MUCH COLDER than this and in fact, the climate record shows that catastrophic cooling is far more likely than catastrophic warming. In fact, the planet has NEVER had a catastrophic warming event while the record is replete with catastrophic cooling events.

THIS IS ALL DUE TO GLOBAL WARMING WHICH I FEEL THE U.S. IS EXTREMELY DOWN PLAYING A SERIOUS SITUATION

quote: Well since we all don't understand it and you do, perhaps you could enlighten us instead of using it as an opportunity to attack a man who has used his money for good and to bring awareness of it to others? Or is that all people who disbelieve this have. Just snide comments about Al Gore who is the whipping boy of the skeptics movement?

Let's be clear JanforGore. I'm not a scientist and didn't claim to be, nor did I claim to understand how climate change works. Guess what . . . that puts me in a class with . . . oh the other 100 percent of the world's population. The problem you "the science is settled" people have is that that this is not something a scientist ever says. What you are is a believer. The object of belief is religion . . . not science.

My knock on Mr. Gore is not frivolous. Do you deny the fact that he is making money hedging on "green"? It's an objective statement of fact. Now I'm all for people making money, but I'm not going to let you impugn me for questioning the motive and method because I'd be willing to bet a dollar to a donut that that's something that you do on a regular basis when other less glamorous interests are involved. I bet I can find posts of yours railing against "big pharma" or "big oil" or the like. Wanna take me up?

Finally, you don't know whether these events have occurred before. You don't know what is causing them. You don't know what effect they will have on our or any other species. But that's OK, because neither do the scientists. You can go on believing whatever you will, but don't talk to me about what you "know" and what I "know". It's just not kosher.

This is what has been happening to the Gulf Stream, and if it stops entirely, chances are that Europe might experience an ice-age-like climate.

Are you reading that straight from the script? I can swear I saw that in a movie. Must be true. Should I head for Mexico NOW?

Nope, I live in Europe, and this fact has been in our news for a great many years now. You can head for anywhere you desire, as far as I'm concerned.

This fact? You mean Europe is in an ice age?

I didn't say it is in an ice age. I said that the fact that the Gulf Stream has been slowing down because of melting ice from Greenland has been known and in the news in Europe for many years. It has slowed down some 30 percent over the past decade or more, and IF it stops altogether, chances are that Europe might experience an ice-age-like climate. You really should seriously brush up on your reading comprehension, jawnybnsc.

I just love the critics of global warming.

“I think the majority of the scientific community on Planet Earth doesn’t know what they’re talking about, even though I don’t have any scientific credentials, blah, blah, blah.”

“I can’t backup a single thing I’m saying with any credible sources, blah, blah,
blah.”

“I love to use absolutes like never and always, they make me SEEM credible, blah, blah, blah.”

“Maybe if I shout loud enough, they will follow me, blah, blah, blah.”

It never ceases to amaze me how ignorance and arrogance unusually walk hand-in-hand.

Opinions are fine, everyone has them. But, if your going to show up to a scientific debate, don’t come empty headed.

jawnybsnc: so you don't have any information about this to impart on us to back up your claims? Oh well. And your accusations regarding Mr. Gore are unfounded. He has donated all of the proceeds of his movie and book An Inconvenient Truth to The Alliance for Climate Protection, as he did his nobel prize money and salary from his venture capitalist position. He has done much to raise awareness of this cause and use his time and money for good which is more than can be said for the opportunistic warmongering bastards who have made blood money off our children's lives in this illegal war. And yes, I rail against big oil and big pharmaceutical and any corporation that puts their profits over human health and life. A far cry from using it to benefit life. And what I "know" is that this planet is now feeling the effects of changes brought on by our behavior that are changing our relationship to this planet and that is corroborated by scientific facts. You don't wish to believe that, then continue living in your own world of denial.

ok - i spent 2 months living in Iceland , and boated on over to Greenland , in the co. of the same "Glaciologists" who do the work which results in the "reports" now being debated - i've seen calving glaciers firsthand , and i've been in alaska too , and antarctica , for months - if any "nay-sayer " cares to step up i'm willing to argue by the numbers - so go ahead .

“I think the majority of the scientific community on Planet Earth doesn’t know what they’re talking about, even though I don’t have any scientific cred