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Wednesday, March 20, 2002
NEWS
THE BATTALION
It 's YOUR tnifj,
id
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Warming causes ice
shelf to collapse
Ice collapse
A lar^e ice shelf on the Antarctic
Peninsula has collapsed into
small icebergs and fragments
It had been retracting since 1995
March 5, 2002
AMERICA
A NIGHT!!!
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TRAVEL
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GRADUATES
Who’s
framing your
diploma?
Framed the day you
graduate!
Choose an option:
/. Online at graduation.tamu.edu
(click on diplomas & framing)
2. Visit University Plus in the
basement of the MSC (near
Hullabaloo food court)
3. By phone, call (979) 845-1631
"‘Friday evening grads - diploma ready Saturday
(AP) — An enormous float
ing ice shelf in Antarctica that
has existed since the last Ice Age
12,000 years ago collapsed this
month with staggering speed dur
ing one of the warmest summers
on record there, scientists say.
Scientists stopped short of
blaming the collapse on global
warming caused by human
activity. But they noted that the
ice shelf had persisted through
previous climate changes well
before civilization began alter
ing the environment.
“It’s a profound event,” said
geologist Christina Hulbe of
Portland State University. “This
ice shelf has endured many cli
mate oscillations over many thou
sands of years. Now it’s gone.”
Satellite images show that a
piece of the Larsen Ice Shelf col
lapsed during a five-week period
that ended March 7. It splintered
into a plume of drifting icebergs.
The piece of ice that broke off
was designated Larsen B, and
was 650 feet thick and with a sur
face area of 1,250 square miles,
or about the size of Rhode Island.
The Ice Shelf is on the
Antarctic Peninsula and extends
about 1,000 miles closer to the
tip of South America than the
rest of the Antarctic continent.
In recent months, with the
polar summer just beginning,
temperatures were already
creeping above freezing in the
peninsula region.
Scientists said there has also
been a 50-year warming trend in
the peninsula, which is consid
ered a sensitive, early indicator
of global climate change.
“We’re seeing a very rapid and
profound response by the ice
sheet to a warming that’s been
around for just a few decades,”
said Ted Scambos of the National
Snow and Ice Data Center at the
University of Colorado.
Scambos was one of three
U.S. researchers monitoring the
Larsen Ice Sheet by satellite.
“We can use this as sort of a
guide for what’s going to hap
pen if the rest of the Antarctic
should begin to warm because of
climate change,” he said.
The Larsen Ice Shelf has been
under careful observation since
1995, when its northernmost sec
tor, known as Larsen A, col
lapsed in a similar event.
“We knew what was left
would collapse eventually, but
the speed of it is staggering,” said
David Vaughan, a glaciologist at
the British Antarctic Survey.
“Hard to believe that 500 million
Pas
0'‘ lU
Antarctic
Peninsula
0^5211 w
WtJdell Allan
Ore
ANTARCTICA
0 W
6 500i
SOURCES: British Antarctic Survey:
Image courtesy ot NASA s Terra sateOti
supplied by Ted Scambos, National
Snow and Ice Data Cantor, Univeieiti
of Colorado, Boulder.
billion tons of ice sheet hasdis
tegrated in less than a month.
Previous measuremei
showed the Antarctic Peninsi
has warmed an average of mo
than 4 degrees Fahrenheit di
ing the past half-century.
Injured
Continued from page 1
and has asked about his senior boots.
“He knows us and we haven’t pushed him hard
on what happened,” Mauch Jr. said. “He may
never know. We’re making great head-way, he
was sat up today, doctors checked his reflexes
and, though he’s still real weak, he was able to
take a couple steps.”
While Mauch’s family waits to bring him
back to Texas, friends and other Corps members
are collecting donations to defray travel and
medical expenses.
“I started to take up money to help out the fam
ily,” Oglesby said. “Other outfits, K1 and D2 for
example, have started raising money before I
could even mention it to them. They just took it
upon themselves.”
Though doctors are unsure of when Mauch
will be released, the family said they have been
treated well in New Orleans.
“They’ve been really nice down here,” Mauch
Jr. said. “All the nurses and doctors have been
really great and helpful. The former president of
the New Orleans Aggie Club came by to visit as
well as a few members from the Class of 1950.
We don’t know how much longer we’ll be here,
but we want to get back to Texas as soon as we
can; we are very anxious to come home.”
NEWS IN BRIEF
Beutal Health
Center closed
The A.R Beutal Health Cent?
will be closed today due
staff in-service workshop wit
Student Counseling Services
Dial-A-Nurse will resume at
3:30 p.m. today and EMSserv
ices will be available by cal(
9-911. Student Health Service;
will re-open Thursday at 8 ai
The Guitar Store
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Located on University behind the Golden Coral
260-7262
Golden Key International
Honor Society
General Meeting
Wednesday, March 20th
7:00 PM, Koldus 1 11
PsieA&tlti.
FREE ADVANCE SCREENING
TEXAS A & M UNIVERSITY
@ Rudder Theatre
8:00 PM Wednesday
March 27, 2002
FREE ADMISSION
while passes last*
INFO?: call SP0 845-1515
http://films.tamu.edu
* Passes available at Rudder Theatre
Box Office or lobby.
Passes required. Seating is limited and not
guaranteed. Please arrive early.
ID required. No one under the age of 17 will be admitted
without parent or legal guardian.
Presented in association with MSC Film Society.
EDET-Mx •
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click “careers” then “career search”
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Need a new
CREATIVE OUTLET?
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