North west university term dates 2014 Videos

NASA hosted a media teleconference to discuss new research results on the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and its potential contribution to future sea level rise. The briefing participants are: -- Eric Rignot, professor of Earth system science at the University of California, Irvine, and glaciologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California; -- Sridhar Anandakrishnan, professor of geosciences at Pennsylvania State University, University Park; and, -- Tom Wagner, cryosphere program scientist with the Earth Science Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. A new study by researchers at NASA and the University of California, Irvine, finds a rapidly melting section of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet appears to be in an irreversible state of decline, with nothing to stop the glaciers in this area from melting into the sea. The study presents multiple lines of evidence, incorporating 40 years of observations that indicate the glaciers in the Amundsen Sea sector of West Antarctica "have passed the point of no return," according to glaciologist and lead author Eric Rignot, of UC Irvine and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The new study has been accepted for publication in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. These glaciers already contribute significantly to sea level rise, releasing almost as much ice into the ocean annually as the entire Greenland Ice Sheet. They contain enough ice to raise global sea level by 4 feet (1.2 meters) and are melting faster than most scientists had expected. Rignot said these findings will require an upward revision to current predictions of sea level rise. "This sector will be a major contributor to sea level rise in the decades and centuries to come," Rignot said. "A conservative estimate is it could take several centuries for all of the ice to flow into the sea." Three major lines of evidence point to the glaciers' eventual demise: the changes in their flow speeds, how much of each glacier floats on seawater, and the slope of the terrain they are flowing over and its depth below sea level. In a paper in April, Rignot's research group discussed the steadily increasing flow speeds of these glaciers over the past 40 years. This new study examines the other two lines of evidence. The glaciers flow out from land to the ocean, with their leading edges afloat on the seawater. The point on a glacier where it first loses contact with land is called the grounding line. Nearly all glacier melt occurs on the underside of the glacier beyond the grounding line, on the section floating on seawater. Just as a grounded boat can float again on shallow water if it is made lighter, a glacier can float over an area where it used to be grounded if it becomes lighter, which it does by melting or by the thinning effects of the glacier stretching out. The Antarctic glaciers studied by Rignot's group have thinned so much they are now floating above places where they used to sit solidly on land, which means their grounding lines are retreating inland. "The grounding line is buried under a thousand or more meters of ice, so it is incredibly challenging for a human observer on the ice sheet surface to figure out exactly where the transition is," Rignot said. "This analysis is best done using satellite techniques." Read the end of this article "West Antarctic Glacier Loss Appears Unstoppable": //www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-148 For additional images and video related to this new finding, visit: //www.nasa.gov/jpl/earth/antarctica-telecon20140512/#.U-3596MkQTI For additional information on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and its potential contribution to sea level rise, visit: //www.nasa.gov/jpl/news/antarctic-ice-sheet-20140512/#.U-36FaMkQTI For more information on Operation IceBridge, visit: //www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/icebridge/index.html The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA. NASA monitors Earth's vital signs from land, air and space with a fleet of satellites and ambitious airborne and ground-based observation campaigns. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records and computer analysis tools to better see how our planet is changing. The agency shares this unique knowledge with the global community and works with institutions in the United States and around the world that contribute to understanding and protecting our home planet. For more information about NASA's Earth science activities in 2014, visit: //www.nasa.gov/earthrightnow Release Date: 12 May 2014 Credit: NASA JPL

That Cole Bielen kid looks really smart!

This type of tournament isn't about the colors of belts. It was a team tournament, so the teams are allowed to fight anyone from a white belt to black belt in each weight class. It's not about being fair. It's about having the best team possible.