Glacier moving 8 feet a day?

[Tripleshot]

Isn't that kind of fast for a thousand foot thick glacier to be sliding to the ocean?I swear,I just heard that on CNN a moment ago.

And the Bush administration doesn't think there is any evidence of global warming?

I sure would like some info on this. The glacier is 200 miles north of Anchorage,Alaska. Any scientists in the forum today?

 

[RaoulDuke]

find the hold and plug it.

 

[SavageDubz]

That's too damn fast for anything with that amount of mass.

 

[SSP]

Is it that big broken off piece of glacier the size of Texas? If so... thats insane!!

 

[Tripleshot]

>>That's too damn fast for anything with that amount of mass. <<

My sentiments exactly. This is a problem,if it is true. I thought glaciers where moving fast if it was a couple inches a month! This portends something else going on. I wonder if there is some vulcanism going on under the glacier. You have to displace alot of ice to get that kind of mass moving.

 

[SavageDubz]

I'm thinking there may be a lot of plate activity going on under it. It may be centered right above where an active plate margin is and it prolly shifted very violently and forced this mass of ice to move. There's prolly too much momentum behind this huge mass of ice to stop anytime soon.

 

[Azraele]

Perhaps they meant to say 8 feet a year. Eight per day is way too fast.

 

[Tripleshot]

>>There's prolly too much momentum behind this huge mass of ice to stop anytime soon. <<

Good point. 1000 ft thick mountain of ice is not going to stop easily. I think it needs a mountain in its path. This is at the foot of Mount McKinnely I guess. Time to check my encarta.

 

[SavageDubz]

<< 1000 ft thick mountain of ice is not going to stop easily. I think it needs a mountain in its path. This is at the foot of Mount McKinnely I guess. Time to check my encarta. >>

It'll be interesting to see it slam into a continent. I wouldn't be surprised if it made the mountain taller or even formed some others.

 

[Mungla]

You guys have to remember, the sun has cycles just like anything else. I believe it is about to hit its peak for the eleven year cycle too.

 

[kami]

I agree, that seems wayyyyyy too fast. Over half a mile per year? seems way too fast. If something that massive is travelling that fast it's basically impossible to stop unless you line up a few mountains... I think its 8 feet a year, and AT THE VERY MOST, 8 feet per month. Does anyone have a link to this story?

 

[RossMAN]

That is definitely way to fast. Usually things like that move like a few inches a year, not 8 frickin' feet a day. Isn't it like 5280 feet in a mile? Something like that.

In two years this HUGE size of Texas glacier will have moved 1 mile!

 

[Amused]

There are about 40 glaciers in Denali, covering about one million acres. About one-quarter are surge-type glaciers like the Tokositna Glacier mentioned here, that gallop forward suddenly at a rapid rate. When a surge occurs, it offers an opportunity to view the powerful forces that carved valleys of the Alaska Range in the distant past.

This is NOT odd, folks. Nor is it a sign of global warming. It's been happening ever since man has recorded glacier movement.

Guy Adema, the National Park Service's glaciologist at Denali National Park and Preserve stated, &quot;We think it has something to do with the water outlets being blocked. When the water builds up, it acts as a lubricant, allowing the glacier to slide forward at a much faster-than-normal rate.&quot;

 

[Nutdotnet]

Actually this is ODD AmusedOne.

Not extremely odd, but it is odd. I mean many of the glaciers in the Harding Ice Field in SouthCentral Alaska can move in upwards of 5 feet a day, BUT within that day 5 feet or more of Ice will calve into the ocean (if it is a tidewater glacier) thus actually causing the glaciers to receed even though they are actually movinh forward quite a bit.

Having this glacier move 8 feet a day and not do any major calving is rather odd, but I don't fully know the details of it yet so I haven't made my mind up on how odd it is.

 

[Amused]

<< Actually this is ODD AmusedOne.

Not extremely odd, but it is odd. I mean many of the glaciers in the Harding Ice Field in SouthCentral Alaska can move in upwards of 5 feet a day, BUT within that day 5 feet or more of Ice will calve into the ocean (if it is a tidewater glacier) thus actually causing the glaciers to receed even though they are actually movinh forward quite a bit.

Having this glacier move 8 feet a day and not do any major calving is rather odd, but I don't fully know the details of it yet so I haven't made my mind up on how odd it is. >>



Huh??? This glacier is land locked. It flows down a mountain until it reaches a point and melts. The report I read talked of huge bulges, depressions and crevasses forming on the normally smooth surface, with large blocks falling off it's leading edge.

8 feet/day may be one of the speedier surge glaciers, but it is not &quot;odd&quot; nor is it a sign of global warming.

 

[Tominator]

AmusedOne

Don't confuse them with the facts...afterall, it keeps the Liberals busy while we advance OUR agenda....

 

[Tripleshot]

AmusedOne

Somehow I feel you are only piping in to protect your favorite boy from being dised on his backing out of the Kyoto accord on global warming. I assure you,that is not what I was refering to when I posted this thread. In all fairness,this is not the fastest moving glacier either. I found one moving at a rate of 115 feet a day,but it is a different type of glacier and spills into a tidal bay. The significance of this rapid acceleration of glacial movement and melting ice fields all over the globe could be just a normal part of geological activity,or,it could be accellerated because of global warming and our pervasive use of fossil fuels pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere over the last several decades.

If you have a scientific reason for saying this is normal and can back it up with up to date scientific analysis, than your contribution is valid. If it is just to protect the current adminstration from the embarrasment of backing out of the Kyoto Accords,there will be time for that discussion after Bush gets back from Europe. I'm sure it will come up. We all see he is changing his tune now. Why aren't you?

 

[Tripleshot]

Tominator

You just can't restrain yourself, can you?

 

[Tominator]

Nope! 'specially when I'm right...the Kyoto treaty was an absurd piece of crap...

Notice how when the Environmentalists have no facts they always go to what ifs? Happens every time...

Scientists that study our weather are the same ones attempting to predict it on a day to day basis.....do I need to state the obvious?

 

[Amused]

<< AmusedOne

Somehow I feel you are only piping in to protect your favorite boy from being dised on his backing out of the Kyoto accord on global warming. I assure you,that is not what I was refering to when I posted this thread. In all fairness,this is not the fastest moving glacier either. I found one moving at a rate of 115 feet a day,but it is a different type of glacier and spills into a tidal bay. The significance of this rapid acceleration of glacial movement and melting ice fields all over the globe could be just a normal part of geological activity,or,it could be accellerated because of global warming and our pervasive use of fossil fuels pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere over the last several decades.

If you have a scientific reason for saying this is normal and can back it up with up to date scientific analysis, than your contribution is valid. If it is just to protect the current adminstration from the embarrasment of backing out of the Kyoto Accords,there will be time for that discussion after Bush gets back from Europe. I'm sure it will come up. We all see he is changing his tune now. Why aren't you? >>



WTF??? Having paranoid delusions of Republicans, TS?

I'm not a Republican, Bush is not my &quot;boy&quot; and the Kyoto treaty is a farce in my opinion, but that's an entirely different matter, as this is NOT related to global warming, OR climate changes.

At any rate, I posted evidence that surge glaciers are NOT abnormal, in fact, they are quite common. I also posted the suspected reason WHY some glaciers surge in such a way. All this by the National Park Service's glaciologist.

What more do you want?

BTW, this surge in the Tokositna glacier come after decades of inactivity. You might compare it to a fault line. Pressure builds up, and it moves forward quickly, then it stops.

 

[Amused]

Here's a little more info on it. As you'll note, surge glaciers are nothing new, and the Tokositna has been known as a surge glacier since 1969, and last surged in 1971.

http://www-water-ak.usgs.gov/News/Tokositna.htm

 

[Soccerman]

Usually things like that move like a few inches a year, not 8 frickin' feet a day.

actually, because of global warming, Glaciers are melting a few feet a year normally (Kilimanjero hmm sp?, is melting waaayy too fast to be normal, for example).

why do I say this? well all the sudden, now-a-days we're discovering tons of ancient rocks, and artifacts simply becuase the ice is retreating, and uncovering them!

Global warming is now, it's happening, and theres nothing you can do to stop it, with the attitude that people take towards issues such as this.

 

[Tominator]

Ancient? When Greenland was named, it was green...that might be awhile ago, but not ancient.

Btw, there are palm trees observable, encased in ice and well preserved, very near the North Pole....wonder what damned filthy human caused the last 'Global Warming?'

 

[Capn]

There are global temperature variations throughout history, there have been much hotter and much colder times. While there is still no direct 100% infallible proof that global warming is caused by man, there are signs. I'm not in with the extremists who predict doom and gloom for all mankind, but we should start paying more attention to what effect we can have on the environment.

 

[Tripleshot]

AmusedOne

My most humble apology to you, sir. How could I have been so cruel? Of course you are not supporting Shrubs withdraw from anything that sounds like protection for the envirnment.
Only people like Tominator would declare they could care less about the envirnment. He will stay indoors at his computer and never venture out into clean air,so why should anyone else?

Rant off/

You site this is the Tokositna galcier. I do not recall this being the one they are talking about on the news. The article was last updated May 10. Could it be we are not talking about the same one? I honestly do not yet know which it is,but even the article you site says many in that area have begun movement at an alarming rate, and with potential for cataclismic outcome. The last I heard on the one I refer to is that this is highly unusual for this particular glacier,in that it hasn't moved at all in several decades. The one you site has been moving for some time, under observation.