Now we know: Canada melt down
December 29, 2006 8:43 AM PST
http://news.com.com/2061-11204_3-6146317.html

Using high tech monitoring devices, including satellite images,
scientists have reconstructed a major climate event that occurred
on August 13, 2005. That afternoon the forty-one square mile Ayles
Ice Shelf broke free of Canada's Ellesmere Island. It now floats free,
an ice island off northeastern Canada. globalwarming?

Satellite images and earthquake monitoring devices recorded the event.
Nobody lives in the area so it was only digital evidence that existed.
Now scientists have visited the newly formed ice island. Its position
will be closely watched.

Only five Canadian ice shelves remain connected to land.
And measurements show they are 90% smaller than they were a century ago.

At the recent Geophysical Union conference,
one report said most Arctic ice will be gone by 2040.
Don't buy any real estate near sea level.

Posted by Harry Fuller



Scientists urge upgrade of U.S. satellite system
January 16, 2007 1:57 PM PST
http://news.com.com/2061-11204_3-6150632.html

If globalwarming wasn't bad enough,
scientists have more unsettling news.

According to a study released Monday by the National Research
Council, scientists won't be able to predict events like hurricanes
unless the United States upgrades its satellite system that monitors
the Earth's environment and climate. The study, according to Reuters,
said that the United States must invest $3 billion annually from 2010
to 2020 to maintain the current observation system. It includes 29 Earth
"missions"--meaning a single satellite or cluster of satellites--run by
NASA and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.

If left without funds, the number of missions could fall to 17 within
three years and to five by 2020, one scientist warned.
Losing a satellite like the one measuring sea-surface roughness
could hobble scientists' ability to predict events like El Nino,
according to the report. That's why the investment is crucial,
the scientists said. "This is only about $10 for every American.
But it will probably save more money than it costs in the long run,"
co-chair Richard Anthes of the Colorado-based University Corporation for
Atmospheric Research said in the report, which was released at the annual
meeting of the American Meteorological Society in San Antonio, Texas.

Posted by Stefanie Olsen