Comments on: Earth Indicator: 4 million http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2012/08/30/earth-indicator-4-million/?src=earthmatters-rss Earth is an amazing planet, and the one that matters most to us. Let’s have a conversation about it. Wed, 01 May 2013 01:19:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: gary http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2012/08/30/earth-indicator-4-million/#comment-11120 gary Thu, 06 Sep 2012 01:50:42 +0000 http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/?p=2569#comment-11120 I can see that mankind will only rise to the call of climate change when the first 100 feet of shoreline
disappears from places like New York ‘s Manhattan Island. Perhaps when no beach front is left at some
resort or small low level islands are completely swallowed up by the ocean.

Our threshold of consciousness, in these matters, has yet to be met. Sure, sure, some of us are very
aware. Just not enough, yet.

]]> By: Michon Scott http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2012/08/30/earth-indicator-4-million/#comment-11119 Michon Scott Thu, 06 Sep 2012 00:29:07 +0000 http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/?p=2569#comment-11119 Hi, noiv. Although we don’t have a specific quantity of energy needed to melt the remaining ice, you may find some useful information here: http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/seaice/processes/thermodynamic_melt.html
As the NSIDC page explains, environmental factors can affect the rate of melt, including whether there is a fresh layer of snow on the ice, and the temperature of the ocean water under the ice.

]]> By: noiv http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2012/08/30/earth-indicator-4-million/#comment-11118 noiv Sun, 02 Sep 2012 11:00:55 +0000 http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/?p=2569#comment-11118 How much energy is needed to melt the remaining 4 million km² ?

]]> By: Marco http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2012/08/30/earth-indicator-4-million/#comment-11117 Marco Sat, 01 Sep 2012 00:18:05 +0000 http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/?p=2569#comment-11117 I guess it depends also from Solar maximums and other variables that are non human. We should create a Ecogical intelligence as Goleman claims in his book anyway. I don’t know what we are really waiting for. We can live better in the planet if we develop not only technology to help defend ourselves but also by educating people. This trend is very particular. Hopefully also the ice of the Sothern pole won’t be touched even if that is a continent of land and not just ice.

What are the immediate consequences of the north pole melting maximums during summer ?

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