House-sized Ice Cubes
Monday, November 20th, 2006
Recent news stories have reported house-sized icebergs floating within view of New Zealand. It’s been at least 75 years since any ‘bergs have been reported so far North (from the Antarctic). It’s definitely an interesting phenomenon, but the media are jumping all over it trying to get scientists to chalk this incident up to global warming. Mike Williams, an oceanographer at the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research was interviewed about the phenomena and thankfully is reminding people not to jump to hasty conclusions.
There’s no question that planet earth has been experiencing a warming trend in global temperatures, but whether or not humans are directly responsible for this is a matter of considerable debate.
Buffeted by high winds, the flotilla of icebergs have already moved South out of sight. They are no longer visible from New Zealand, but tourists are paying up to $300 for flights over the icebergs. The tours are being billed as a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’.