Bizarre rock 'ice shelf' found in Pacific

mlurp · #1 (**permalink**) 08-10-2012, 04:38 PM

This one has plenty to do with our environment I am thinking. As in the bckground I am listening to pre-season football. And can't do both..

Quote:

.Bizarre rock 'ice shelf' found in Pacific

AFP – 10 hrs ago. 10 August 2012 ....................

Click image for more photos

A huge cluster of floating volcanic rocks covering almost 26,000 square kilometres (10,000 square miles) has been found drifting in the Pacific, the New Zealand navy said Friday.

The strange phenomenon, which witnesses said resembled a polar ice shelf, was made up of lightweight pumice expelled from an underwater volcano, the navy said.

An air force plane spotted the rocks on Thursday about 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) offshore from New Zealand and warned a navy warship that it was heading towards them.

[Slideshow: Giant iceberg's birth seen from space]

Lieutenant Tim Oscar said that while he knew his ship the HMNZS Canterbury was in no danger from the pumice, which is solidified lava filled with air bubbles, it was still "the weirdest thing I've seen in 18 years at sea".

"As far ahead as I could observe was a raft of pumice moving up and down with the swell," he said.

"The rock looked to be sitting two foot (half a metre) above the surface of the waves and lit up a brilliant while colour in the spotlight. It looked exactly like the edge of an ice shelf."

[Slideshow: Amazing volcano lightning photos]

Scientists aboard the ship said the pumice probably came from an underwater volcano called Monowai, which has been active recently.

They said the phenomenon was unrelated to increased volcanic activity in New Zealand this week, including an eruption at Mount Tongariro that sent an ash cloud 20,000 feet into the atmosphere.

More from Yahoo! News:

Bizarre rock 'ice shelf' found in Pacific - Yahoo! News

And 1,319 comments.

MrLiberty · #2 (**permalink**) 08-10-2012, 07:49 PM

I would say we are seeing the birth of a new island, and in a couple of thousands of years it will be a new paradise for vacationers......

saltwn · #3 (**permalink**) 08-10-2012, 11:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mlurp

This one has plenty to do with our environment I am thinking. As in the bckground I am listening to pre-season football. And can't do both..

Bizarre rock 'ice shelf' found in Pacific - Yahoo! News

And 1,319 comments.

I can just imagine a Phoenician traveler at the edge of history spotting something like that. What would they make of it? There'd be legends born...
"We've seen the end of the earth ...it breaks up and floats away..."

mlurp · #4 (**permalink**) 08-11-2012, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrLiberty

I would say we are seeing the birth of a new island, and in a couple of thousands of years it will be a new paradise for vacationers......

Or another form of an ocean trash pile, which for some (rats and other vermin) would be paradise..

Quote:

Originally Posted by saltwn

I can just imagine a Phoenician traveler at the edge of history spotting something like that. What would they make of it? There'd be legends born...
"We've seen the end of the earth ...it breaks up and floats away..."

Yep mankind has trashed this 3rd rock from the sun plenty. And to think it is just in the 7 oceans/seas is plain

IMHO.

Salty I can't reply to your PM. As I get a message your inbox is filled.

mlurp · #5 (**permalink**) 08-12-2012, 04:46 PM

And the UN respones with this. And coming from a fish eating nation he ought to know.

Quote:

.UN chief launches new initiative to protect oceans

By Jung Ha-Won | AFP – 14 hrs ago. 12 August 2012 .........

The UN chief on Sunday announced an initiative to protect oceans from pollution and over-fishing and to combat rising sea levels which threaten hundreds of millions of the world's people.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the "Oceans Compact" initiative sets out a strategic vision for the UN system to more effectively tackle the "precarious state" of the world's seas.

Ban highlighted the "grave threat" from pollution, excessive fishing and global warming.

"Our oceans are heating and expanding," he said in a speech to a conference marking the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

"We risk irrevocable changes in processes that we barely comprehend, such as the great currents that affect weather patterns.

"Ocean acidification (from absorbed carbon emissions) is eating into the very basis of our ocean life; and sea level rise threatens to re-draw the global map at the expense of hundreds of millions of the world's most vulnerable people."

The UN chief, who also called for action to curb piracy and irregular sea migration, said he hoped for progress towards a legally binding framework to combat "runaway climate change" at a UN conference in Doha in November.

But action could also be taken now.

................................................. CONTINUED ............................................

UN chief launches new initiative to protect oceans - Yahoo! News

Ban Ki-moon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ban Ki-moon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

saltwn · #6 (**permalink**) 08-12-2012, 05:24 PM

Nice place for a rock concert

mlurp · #7 (**permalink**) 08-13-2012, 01:00 PM

In the ocean?

What gets me is the main man in the UN says this and also says it needs to start right now.

Yet where is the follow up to gather all the UN Countries together to even start this process...

I will do a few searches and see if anything is being followed up on this.

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