Fact #5

Fact: The Larsen ice shelf in Antartica melted within 35 days.

Website #1: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=2288

Source: NASA
Credentials: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Credibility: Very credible
What It Says About the Fact: "a large floating ice mass on the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula, has shattered and separated from the continent...The shattered ice formed a plume of thousands of icebergs adrift in the Weddell Sea. A total of about 3,250 square kilometers of shelf area disintegrated in a 35-day period beginning on January 31, 2002. Over the last five years, the shelf has lost a total of 5,700 square kilometers and is now about 40 percent the size of its previous minimum stable extent.... The Larsen B shelf was about 220 meters thick. Based on studies of ice flow and sediment thickness beneath the ice shelf, scientists believe that it existed for at least 400 years prior to this event and likely existed since the end of the last major glaciation 12,000 years ago."
Do I Believe the Source: I do believe this source.
Why or Why Not?: I believe this source because NASA is very reliable.

Website #2: http://www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org/pages/antarctica.html

Source: Eugene Domack
Credentials: Hamilton College geologist
Credibility: Very credible
What It Says About the Fact: "On the Larsen shelf (satellite view left), about 3,250 km2 of shelf in area B disintegrated in a 35-day period beginning on 31 January 2002. Eugene Domack, Hamilton College geologist, and others believe this portion of the shelf may have been stable for about 12,000 years before the most recent collapse."
Do I Believe the Source: I do believe this source.
Why or Why Not?: I believe this source because the person who said this is a geologist at Hamilton College.

Website #3: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5332BU20090404
Source: U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement. USGS glaciologist Jane Ferrigno. U.N. Climate Panel
Credentials: Specialists in their field.
Credibility: Very credible
What It Says About the Fact: ""One Antarctic ice shelf has quickly vanished, another is disappearing and glaciers are melting faster than anyone thought due to climate change, U.S. and British government researchers reported on Friday...the northern part of the Larsen Ice Shelf no longer exists. More than 3,200 square miles (8,300 square km) have broken off from the Larsen shelf since 1986..."The rapid retreat of glaciers there demonstrates once again the profound effects our planet is already experiencing -- more rapidly than previously known -- as a consequence of climate change," U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement...The U.N. Climate Panel projects that world atmospheric temperature will rise by between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees Celsius because of emissions of greenhouse gases that could bring floods, droughts, heat waves and more powerful storms. As glaciers and ice sheets melt, they can raise overall ocean levels and swamp low-lying areas."
Do I Believe the Source: I do believe this source.
Why or Why Not: I do believe this source because it seems pretty accurate. It goes with all of the other information I have found.

Believing: I believe that this fact is true because the fact has been supported by the information that I have founnd.