4 ms·

Just think, within our lifetimes we'll be able to explore this canyon by foot.

by U2EF1 13y ago

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
mjtokelly 13y ago
Not with current life expectancies, but I was intrigued enough by your comment to look up current best predictions: http://www.wunderground.com/climate/greenland.asp#IceFree http://www.wunderground.com/climate/greenland.asp#IceFree
- nitrogen 13y ago
  Well, if we ramp up funding of life extension research, some of us might live another millennium to see it happen.
  - zw123456 13y ago
    This is why I want to live forever, to see what Greenland looks like without the ice sheet.
coldtea 13y ago
Yay! Millions might have perished from the global warming and it's adverse weather and sea-line effects, but we could explore Greenland, so who cares about that.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
ddeck 13y ago
Perhaps with some deep sea diving gear. The surface of Greenland's bedrock is close to sea level in the interior and the discovered canyon appears to in the area that is below sea level.[1] In addition, it's estimated that a complete melting of the ice sheet would increase sea levels by ~24ft[2] and that's not taking into account the larger impact of the rest of the world melting (Antarctic ice sheet is much larger). [1] http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Topographic_map_of_Greenland_bedrock.jpg http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Topographic_map_of_Gr... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_ice_sheet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_ice_sheet
- nfg 13y ago
  You're not accounting for rebound: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-glacial_rebound http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-glacial_rebound.
  - ddeck 13y ago
    True, but that would need to be some kind of rebound ;). Even ignoring sea level rises due to ice loss elsewhere and the fact that the area we're discussing already appears well below sea level, the average ratio of bedrock rise to decrease in ice shelf thickness has been running at about 1:10 in recent years.
- arethuza 13y ago
  I have no idea whether it is accurate or not but as soon as I read this I started thinking about a vastly longer version of Sam Ford Fjord and it's incredible mountain architecture: http://vimeo.com/33620071 http://vimeo.com/33620071
Shivetya 13y ago
I am not sure if anyone could live long enough, there are some theories that suggest that when a sufficient amount of Greenland's ice cover melts it cools the oceans enough to restart the cooling cycle. Earth seems to have a lot of built in corrective measures, for both the issues it causes and the ones we think we cause.
- madaxe 13y ago
  That, and chaotic runaways we can't even pretend to understand yet.

Just think, within our lifetimes we'll be able to explore this canyon by foot.

by U2EF1 13y ago

Just think, within our lifetimes we'll be able to explore this canyon by foot.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

mjtokelly 13y ago

Not with current life expectancies, but I was intrigued enough by your comment to look up current best predictions: http://www.wunderground.com/climate/greenland.asp#IceFree http://www.wunderground.com/climate/greenland.asp#IceFree

nitrogen 13y ago
Well, if we ramp up funding of life extension research, some of us might live another millennium to see it happen.
- zw123456 13y ago
  This is why I want to live forever, to see what Greenland looks like without the ice sheet.

coldtea 13y ago

Yay! Millions might have perished from the global warming and it's adverse weather and sea-line effects, but we could explore Greenland, so who cares about that.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

ddeck 13y ago

Perhaps with some deep sea diving gear. The surface of Greenland's bedrock is close to sea level in the interior and the discovered canyon appears to in the area that is below sea level.[1] In addition, it's estimated that a complete melting of the ice sheet would increase sea levels by ~24ft[2] and that's not taking into account the larger impact of the rest of the world melting (Antarctic ice sheet is much larger). [1] http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Topographic_map_of_Greenland_bedrock.jpg http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Topographic_map_of_Gr... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_ice_sheet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_ice_sheet

nfg 13y ago
You're not accounting for rebound: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-glacial_rebound http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-glacial_rebound.
- ddeck 13y ago
  True, but that would need to be some kind of rebound ;). Even ignoring sea level rises due to ice loss elsewhere and the fact that the area we're discussing already appears well below sea level, the average ratio of bedrock rise to decrease in ice shelf thickness has been running at about 1:10 in recent years.
arethuza 13y ago
I have no idea whether it is accurate or not but as soon as I read this I started thinking about a vastly longer version of Sam Ford Fjord and it's incredible mountain architecture: http://vimeo.com/33620071 http://vimeo.com/33620071

Shivetya 13y ago

I am not sure if anyone could live long enough, there are some theories that suggest that when a sufficient amount of Greenland's ice cover melts it cools the oceans enough to restart the cooling cycle. Earth seems to have a lot of built in corrective measures, for both the issues it causes and the ones we think we cause.

madaxe 13y ago
That, and chaotic runaways we can't even pretend to understand yet.