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'Glacial earthquakes' warn of global warming
(Steve Connor, Independent Online Edition, March 24, 2006)
Dramatic new evidence has emerged of the speed of climate change in the polar regions which scientists fear is causing huge volumes of ice to melt far faster than predicted. . . . Scientists have recorded a significant and unexpected increase in the number of "glacial earthquakes" caused by the sudden movement of Manhattan-sized blocks of ice in Greenland. . . . A second study has found that higher temperatures caused by global warming could melt the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets much sooner than previously thought, with a corresponding rise in sea levels. . . . Both studies - along with a series of findings from other scientists over the past year - point to a disturbing change in the polar climate which is causing the disappearance of glaciers, ice sheets and floating sea ice. . . . The rise in the number of glacial earthquakes over the past four years lends further weight to the idea that Greenland's glaciers and its ice sheet are beginning to move and melt on a scale not seen for perhaps thousands of years. . . . The annual number of glacial earthquakes recorded in Greenland between 1993 and 2002 was between six and 15. In 2003 seismologists recorded 20 glacial earthquakes. In 2004 they monitored 24 and for the first 10 months of 2005 they recorded 32. . . . "Some of Greenland's glaciers - as large as Manhattan and as tall as the Empire State Building - can move 10 metres in less than a minute, a jolt that is sufficient to generate moderate seismic waves," Professor Ekstrom said. . . . Average temperatures in the Arctic have risen far faster than in other parts of the world over the past few decades, resulting in the rapid acceleration in polar melting. . . . "Greenland's glaciers deliver large quantities of freshwater to the oceans, so the implications for climate change are serious. We believe that further warming of the climate is likely to accelerate the behaviour we've documented," she said.

posted by LoZo 5:55 PM

 

Bush Administration Seeks To Use Loophole To Open Arctic Drilling
(Joe Gandelman, The Moderate Voice, March 7, 2006)
Democratic lawmakers on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee said on Monday they opposed putting in the 2007 budget bill language assuming the government will raise billions of dollars in oil drilling leasing fees from Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. . . . In its budget proposal to Congress, the Bush administration said it expected $7 billion would be raised by allowing oil drilling in the Alaskan refuge, and the Congressional Budget Office puts the figure at $6 billion. . . . No matter what the number, most Senate and House Democrats are against opening the refuge to oil companies. . . . "It is irresponsible to base the country's budget on highly speculative and dubious projections of lease revenues for the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge," all nine Democrats on the budget panel said in a letter to the committee's Republican chairman, Judd Gregg. . . . Putting the ANWR leasing revenues in the budget bill is a way to get around a threatened filibuster of any legislation that would open to refuge to oil drilling, because budget bills can't be filibustered. . . . "We encourage you to reject any requests that are intended to misuse the budget process to open the refuge to oil and gas drilling and exploration," the Democratic lawmakers said. . . . The Senate Budget Committee is scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to include the ANWR leasing revenue in the government's 2007 budget.

posted by LoZo 1:31 PM