Thursday, December 20, 2007

Slip, Sliding Away

I stole read this little gem over to the Six Meat Buffet. And it is tasty indeed. The full text is from Science Daily:

Scientists have discovered what they think may be another reason why Greenland's ice is melting: a thin spot in Earth's crust is enabling underground magma to heat the ice.

[...] The researchers don't yet know how warm the hotspot is. But if it is warm enough to melt the ice above it even a little, it could be lubricating the base of the ice sheet and enabling the ice to slide more rapidly out to sea.

“The behavior of the great ice sheets is an important barometer of global climate change,” said Ralph von Frese, leader of the project and a professor of earth sciences at Ohio State University. “However, to effectively separate and quantify human impacts on climate change, we must understand the natural impacts, too.

If I read this correctly, Mama Gaia is now having hot flashes that are melting her icy bonds, easing the lubricous movement of her glaciers as they slide between her soft, dewy, silky fjiords...

I gotta lay down.

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