Icebergs In New Zealand Waters - First Time Since 1948

[hatrack]

"New Zealanders complaining about unseasonal summer rain in recent weeks have received proof of changing climatic conditions after icebergs were sighted in local waters for the first time since 1948.
The icebergs were see in the Southern Ocean, about 700 kilometresmiles) southeast of the South Island, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) said Thursday.

They were a hazard to all shipping, including yachts participating in the Vendeeglobe solo round-the-world race, officials said. The Vendeeglobe website has issued a warning to competitors after one sailor sustained minor damage to his boat when he hit an iceberg just before Christmas.

NIWA scientist Lionel Carter said 15 icebergs, some up to three kilometres wide, have been recorded.

"In 30 years of working for NIWA, this is the first time I have recorded sightings of icebergs in New Zealand waters," Carter said."

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2005/050106002943.y50xq4la.html

[revree]

1. Oh, but Michael Crichton says there is no global warming.

That author is a big fucking joke.

[DulceDecorum]

2. Micheal Crichton is correct

A few anomalies here and there are nothing to be alarmed about.
Most of these type of reports are merely propaganda.
For example this article from Aljezeera

Thursday 30 December 2004
Snow has fallen over the United Arab Emirates for the first time
ever,
leaving a white blanket over the mountains of Ras al-Khayma.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/669DA83D-AA88-4426-BB8B-76D0928B0A51.htm

People fall for this stuff all the time.
Don't put your full faith on anything you see on the internets.
As Ronald Reagan said:
Trust but verify.

[yinkaafrica]

3. I did not hear about snow in the UAE

I wonder how the Arabs liked it

[pmbryant]

4. Crichton's dismissal of global warming is not correct

Yes, this iceberg incident is not evidence of global warming, no more than snow in UAE is.

But there is plenty of evidence that global warming exists, and is made worse by human activities. Crichton's distortions about this are absolutely not correct.

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php?p=74

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php?p=76

--Peter

[DulceDecorum]

5. Oh, come on!!!

The people who claim that there is grass growing in Antartica
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1415627,00.html
have probably been smoking some.

And speaking of smoking......

In 1993, the EPA announced that second-hand smoke was "responsible for approximately 3,000 lung cancer deaths each year in nonsmoking adults," and that it " impairs the respiratory health of hundreds of thousands of people." In a 1994 pamphlet the EPA said that the eleven studies it based its decision on were not by themselves conclusive, and that they collectively assigned second-hand smoke a risk factor of 1.19. (For reference, a risk factor below 3.0 is too small for action by the EPA. or for publication in the New England Journal of Medicine, for example.) Furthermore, since there was no statistical association at the 95% coinfidence limits, the EPA lowered the limit to 90%. They then classified second hand smoke as a Group A Carcinogen.

This was openly fraudulent science, but it formed the basis for bans on smoking in restaurants, offices, and airports. California banned public smoking in 1995. Soon, no claim was too extreme. By 1998, the Christian Science Monitor was saying that "Second-hand smoke is the nation's third-leading preventable cause of death." The American Cancer Society announced that 53,000 people died each year of second-hand smoke. The evidence for this claim is nonexistent.
http://www.crichton-official.com/speeches/speeches_quote04.html

[NickB79]

6. You doubt the report of grass now growing in Antarctica?

Since it was released by the British Antarctic Survey, the research group doing the majority of Antarctic research for the UK for the past 60 yrs, I doubt they would somehow mistake rocks and ice for green grass. Do you have a counter-link to a news story disputing their findings? If so, I would love to read it. And, if you really still feel their findings are incorrect, here is their website http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/. I suggest you email them and tell them the results of your latest Antarctic expedition that found no sign of grass.

[pmbryant]

7. This is evidence of what?

The second-hand smoking info from Crichton, given his track record that I am familiar with, is likely to be full of half-truths and distortions. Especially since he calls a policy decision that he doesn't like "fraudulent science."

And anyway has nothing to do with this discussion.

--Peter

[NNadir]

8. If I were defending the moron who wrote "Jurassic Park," I would probably

try some more convincing method than appealing to science. Clearly this fellow, Critcton, has never read any science, and I would suspect that anyone who buys into his vacuous nonsense is probably somewhat short in that department as well.

There seems to be some synapses short circuited by nicotine around here.

[jmcgowanjm]

9. Why the US needs Russian icebreaker in Summer

Get Ready for the Largest Demolition Derby on the
Planet
Scientists say Slow-Motion Collision Near Antarctic
Research Station Imminent

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/ice_berg_ram.html

[jmcgowanjm]

10. McMurdo Station being evac'd

there's enough ice in the West Antarctic there to raise sea
level 8.06 meters - that pencils out to 26 feet.  Just to put
into perspective how this could screw up the world:  80+
percent of the world's oil refineries are in that close to sea
level.  And if you live in Florida, the runway elevation at
Boca Raton, Miami International, and Ft. Lauderdale is
around 16-20 feet!
 
http://www.urbansurvival.com/week.htm

[jmcgowanjm]

11. B-15A as big as Long Island

“The tides that drive the iceberg's motion tend to push it
in circles. ‘If B-15A bangs the ice tongue once, it could bang
it again

http://p2pnet.net/story/3518