Melting Glacier Drains Lake In Chile

Global Warming To Blame For Bizarre River "Tsunami"

(AP)  Melting ice in southern Chile caused a glacial lake to swell and then empty suddenly, sending a “tsunami” rolling through a river, a scientist said Thursday. No one was injured in the remote region.

Glacier scientist Gino Casassa said the melting of the Colonia glacier, which he blamed on rising world temperatures, filled the Cachet Lake and increased pressure on the ice sheet.

The water bored a 5-mile tunnel through the glacier and finally emptied into the Baker River on April 6.

“The remarkable thing is that the mass of water moved against the current of the river,” Casassa told The Associated Press by telephone from the Center for Scientific Studies in the southern city of Valdivia. “It was a real river tsunami.”

The lake was nearly full again by late Wednesday, he said.

Casassa said temperatures were unusually high during the recent Southern Hemisphere summer.

“This is a phenomenon that occurs periodically during the summer season, caused by the melting of large masses of ice that swell some lakes,” he said. “The basic cause is global warming.”

The Tempano lake in Chile's Bernardo O'Higgins National Park abruptly disappeared last year, and has since recovered just some of its former volume.

[dominicks199]

Where did all the fish go

[forbinrhodes]

Ice melts in the summer and freezes in the winter. DUH Your own report shows that this occurs "periodically. Blame it on global warming? What nonsense. No wonder CBS
news is going down the tube. (off the tube?)

[thgdriver]

The sky is falling again. Who is surprised?

Nothing new here, move along, keep moving, nothing to see here, this way!

[rf35]

I hope someone is setting up to monitor this. With the lake filling again, this event is bound to repeat itself. It would be cool to have some video and pictures next time. Also, it might be useful to gather more data and find out if something like this could occur in a less remote area. Could be devastating if it happened along a river in populated area.

[libh8er]

Hey Al, they need you down in SA. Please get there ASAP.

[gorgeousm]

Mother Earth must cull maybe 80 to 90% of all humans, and soon!

[sistatee-2009]

It''s my fault. I mowed my lawn on an ozone action day last summer.

[frankbowers]

What a shame the Ameircan voters refused or failed to listen to Gore as he told the truth in 2000 and they are still listening to gw bush when he tell them there is no global warming today. What a disgrace America has became to the world since 2000. Frank Bowers.

[gcrewell]

Benst1,
You state that the Northwest Passage was free a few thousand years ago, so why wouldn''t that happen again? No measure had been taken of temperature until a few hundred years ago, so we have no way to know that "global warming" isn''t the natural order of the earth (solar warming). It is all just theory, like most every scientific statement is today. We have very few actual pure "facts". That is the nature of science the the scientific method: setup, watch, record, and repeat. Don''t get me wrong, dirty water and air are bad for humans healthwise, but we are already getting payback for those mistakes today. More people are doing their part to be stewards of this planet than ever before. But don''t negate all that great work by making statements about theories that just aren''t proven yet...

[downsteamjim]

''The remarkable thing is that the mass of water moved against the current.'' Apparently there is some problem with gravity. Al Gore can now get a second noble prize.

[heraldtkel]

It''s Chile, who cares? www.theoandavirus.com

[idnnsg]

"No measure had been taken of temperature until a few hundred years ago, so we have no way to know that ''global warming'' isn''t the natural order of the earth."

That is not correct, unless you mean specifically that no people were present taking measurements with thermometers until a few hundred years ago. There are several ways to determine the temperature over time by taking measurements NOW.

Here''s what the ANTI-global warming scientists say:

"For more than 100 years, climate scientists have fully understood that if all else were held constant, an increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) would lead to an increase in the near-surface air temperatures."

So, don''t be too quick to dismiss global warming.

[ubrew12]

gcrewell said: "We have very few actual pure "facts". That is the nature of science the the scientific method: setup, watch, record, and repeat. "

Well, why don''t you set up a simu-Earth, add some CO2, and see what happens? Oh, yeah, someone has already done that. Its called a climatological model, it uses some of the most advanced brains and computing power on the planet to run, and it says global warming is real.

But EXXON says otherwise, so, of course, you and your fellow mental midgets have to ape the big ''E''.

[popstom1]

In Russia one bigest lakes and river is gone
africa lake dufar is gone ware did they go

[timdgrim]

Mother Earth must cull maybe 80 to 90% of all humans, and soon!



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by gorgeousm at 01:58 PM : Apr 11, 2008
Let''s start with Republicans!

[popstom1]

I like to see what the smart ones have too say

[grammawhamma]

Now its called global warming again?? I thought that term was changed to "global climate change".

Ohhh...now I get it. When it is colder then expected we say global climate change and when it is warm out it changes back to global warming. *wink

The phrase "global warming" was coined by Margaret Thatcher. It has no bearing whatsoever on what scientists have said, are saying, or will say. People should learn to discriminate between scientists and popular media.

[skyk-2009]

Ohhh...now I get it. When it is colder then expected we say global climate change and when it is warm out it changes back to global warming. *wink


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by GrammaWhamma at 02:28 AM : Apr 12, 2008
+ report abuse

I don''t think Scientist have differed any at all when referring to what the media calls global warming. It''s like when Con''s were trying to tell us all there was NO danger in Smoking or when they were making fun of Scientist who said Chemical''s were killing us. ANYTHING to divert attention from the basic problem. I just wonder, as was the case with all the Stalling from those and so many previous attacks on scientific results, how many needless deaths will this one cost?? That''s the ONLY question in this debate when observed with an eye on history.

[zykracosmos]

time to buy some land in Siberia

[johnny_chaos]

wonderbread people, your all like wonderbread, soft, squishy, and without any nutritinal value. god is the miricle whip holding reality at bay.

[seafang]

What an idiot; the ice melted because it was warm enough in that part of southern Chile; the globe isn''t warming and hasn''t since 1988, and it''s going to be cooling for the next 20-30 years, and then it will warm again. Just yesterday I spoke with a Danish Nobel Peace Prize (1988) winning glaciologist who lives in Greenland, and he says they have record ice thickness right now in Greenland, and not a sign of any global warming. He studies ice masses in Antarctica, and they have record ice growth there too (as well as pieces falling off every few years) They are already floating so they don''t raise the ocean at all.

The wheels have fallen off that tired old chariot; get some basic science education.

[termtex01]

I wonder how long it takes water to erode 5 miles of compacted earth?

A bit more than 10 years of ''global warming'' I would hazard to guess.

Compared to rates established for water seeping through man-made ***** and dams, causing failure(using the St. Francis Dam [California] failure as a basis, which failed 2 years after completion), 5 miles (26,400 feet) of erosion should take between 50 and 400 years.

[skyguide-2009]

Seafang - Could you perhaps "improve" your "facts", please? In your comment you state that, "Just yesterday I spoke with a Danish Nobel Peace Prize (1988) winning glaciologist who lives in Greenland..."

1) The 1988 Nobel Peace Prize went to the United Nations Peace Keeping Forces.

2) As far as I can determine, no Danish glaciologist has ever won a Nobel prize, in any category.

3) The only Nobel-prize winning glaciologists I can find were part of the 2007 Peace Prize team from the IPCC. [The views of the IPCC, of course, are at odds with your beliefs, as I understand them, so I do not think that the person you were talking to yesterday is a member of that team.]

I''d really like to learn more about the validity of global warming. If you can correct your statement so that I can determine the name of the esteemed scientist that you spoke to yesterday, them I''d be grateful.

~Michael

[thgdriver]

Mother earth just called, she said it''s not global warming, or ice age. It''s called menopause. She said she is going through some changes in her old age. LOL!

[newsterl]

ow its called global warming again?? I thought that term was changed to "global climate change".

Ohhh...now I get it. When it is colder then expected we say global climate change and when it is warm out it changes back to global warming. *wink

Posted by GrammaWhamma

No its global climate CHANGE, that means former deserts can change and former crop growing land can too, it means places that had ice capped mountains year-round that lost that are warming up while some other location such as greenland is cooling down. The PROBLEM is you dont want glacier type ice forming in Chicago and staying there year-round, nor would you want prime agriculture land to become a windblown desert crops cant grow on any more because of severe drought from the winds shifting the rain clouds further south. You also dont want to see 6 feet of rain a year that formerly got 6 inches- it tends to vastly disrupt cities, lives, money and more when people''s homes flood out and crops are destroyed.

[marcosis78]

Its funny how people dont believe this is happening and all they can do is make fun of others about terms and such. I guess its easier to either get in the gas guzzler or be a republican and be in denial your whole life.

[termtex01]

"People make jokes about Global Warming.
No one is saying why the "Northwest Passage" was ice-free in Augest 2007 for the first time in thousands of years.
Posted by Benst1 at 04:14 PM : Apr 11, 2008"

Actually, that''s not true. I found satellite imagery that shows the Northwest passage was open in 1981. Ir also shows that in 2007, unusually strong seasonal winds from the Bering Sea had blown the pack ice farther north than usual. The images show that, around Greenland and the arctic Ocean north of Canada, the sea ice was THICKER than in 1981. Because the winds had piled it up. The see ice of eastern Greenland was WIDER and THICKER than in 1981 also. You can easily see the influence winds had on sea ice.

http://igloo.atmos.uiuc.edu/cgi-bin/test/print.sh?fm=09&fd=20&fy=1981&sm=09&sd=20&sy=2007

[termtex01]

If you look at the same website (http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/index.noshade.html) under "Latest regional sea ice coverage and anomalies", you can also see that sea ice levels in some areas of the arctic are the same now as a year ago. Some are less. Some are more.

Look at the data. Really, look at it. Than answer me this:

Why don''t we hear about why the Barents Sea, Kara Sea, Greenland Sea, Baffin/Newfoundland Bay, Gulf of St. Lawrence, and Hudson Bay ice levels are higher and cover more area now than they were exactly one year ago in April of 2007?

It''s a mystery.

[rudy654-2009]

Its funny how people dont believe this is happening and all they can do is make fun of others about terms and such. I guess its easier to either get in the gas guzzler or be a republican and be in denial your whole life.
Posted by marcosis78 at 10:11 PM

Exactly. These people are so brainwashed that they even deny that there is such a thing as global warming or climate change. Instead, they act like numbskulls that have nothing better to do than just demonstrate their lack of intelligence over and over.

[rudy654-2009]

Ohhh...now I get it. When it is colder then expected we say global climate change and when it is warm out it changes back to global warming. *wink
Posted by GrammaWhamma at 02:28 AM

Get an education!

[lochlan-2009]

Didn''t this same thing happen in the midwest hundred of thousands of years ago?

Must have been global warming then too.

I can''t believe the upcoming powers that be are going to try to change the entire worlds climate to what they THINK it should be.

[quetzal0666]

Someone should bottle it and ship it to the U.S. then sell it for 4.50 a bottle....

Global Warming Glacier Water,
cool and refreshing, good till it runs out...