11–20 of 33 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's unfortunate. I liked the elegance of such a brutish potential solution. I know this definitely sounds dumb and juvenile, but I genuinely wish more problems could be solved with bombs.
Surely you’re familiar with the exploding whale story, but if not: https://youtu.be/V6CLumsir34
I know this can potentially sound very stupid given the actual size, but can't we bomb it (target specific parts with a lot of firepower) in an attempt to break it up if it poses such a danger to actual wildlife if it collides/approaches the island? The ocean then potentially will carry some of the pieces away and miss the island?
This thing is the size of Jamaica with a draft of 200m (and so a height of more than that). It would take multiple nuclear weapons to do it any real kind of damage.
It's just a damn ice sheet. I don't see how this is a disaster.
I mean it would be better if it doesn't happen but compared to the other climate catastrophes we're facing this doesn't seem very serious. Surely, penguins can deal with some floating ice?
Beautiful page, but I still don't get why it's a big deal? Iceberg gets stuck next to an island - surely it won't completely envelop it. The map shows the island is dotted with penguins breeding grounds so not all are going to be blocked, probably way less than half even. In the area where it will drag on the seabed some of the life will be probably destroyed, but this area can't be very large compared to the size of…
> Surely, penguins can deal with some floating ice?
some floating ice ?? The "beautiful page" has plenty of diagrams explaining the extent of this ice. It is the size of Jamaica. The largest floating ice object in recorded history.
I know this can potentially sound very stupid given the actual size, but can't we bomb it (target specific parts with a lot of firepower) in an attempt to break it up if it poses such a danger to actual wildlife if it collides/approaches the island? The ocean then potentially will carry some of the pieces away and miss the island?
This thing is the size of Jamaica with a draft of 200m (and so a height of more than that). It would take multiple nuclear weapons to do it any real kind of damage.
Beautiful page, but I still don't get why it's a big deal? Iceberg gets stuck next to an island - surely it won't completely envelop it. The map shows the island is dotted with penguins breeding grounds so not all are going to be blocked, probably way less than half even. In the area where it will drag on the seabed some of the life will be probably destroyed, but this area can't be very large compared to the size of…
They had to do this because their exploration ship, the Endurance, got crushed and sank as they attempted (again) to trek to the south pole.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/shackleton/1914/timeline.html
One of the most amazing things about it is there are a lot of photographs from the ordeal. Despite barely getting off the ice floes and having a low chance of living, they carried with them hundreds of pounds of glass photographic exposures. Why? Because if they lived, publication rights of their stories and the photographs were necessary to pay off the debt they incurred in undertaking the mission.