West Antarctic Ice Sheet : Potential collapse
Large parts of the WAIS sit on a bed which is below sea level and slopes downward inland.[A] This slope, and the low isostatic head, mean that the ice sheet is theoretically unstable: a small retreat could in theory destabilize the entire WAIS leading to rapid disintegration.
James E. Hansen, a senior NASA scientist and leading climate expert, said the results were deeply worrying. “Once a sheet starts to disintegrate, it can reach a tipping point beyond which break-up is explosively rapid,”
Collapse Of Antarctic Ice Sheet Would Likely Put Washington, D.C. Largely Underwater
Straight out of Grimm’s Fairy Tales ….. Kids love scary stories.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/64027823
h/t to Ivan
hansen tales, wikipedia recycling
They make all those promises and we are still waiting for the blessed event!
It’s worse than that. Google “ice surge”…when cooling was the rage in the 1970s “scientists” said West Antarctica would soon break because of excessive weight.
So no matterwhat the temps do, West Antarctica is always depicted as soon-to-collapse.
That would cause a massive tidal wave that “Could” wipe out the Denver airport and make Lake Tahoe a salt water lake. Now I am really scared because the water from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic “Could” come crashing over the Appalachians and drown my place.
Woe is me! What can I do? 