Post by ● kaneisdaman ● on Sept 23, 2008 6:57:13 GMT -5
Rubber ducks are the latest weapons in the fight against global warming, according to NASA.
NASA scientists have dropped 90 of the ducks into holes in the Jakobshavn glacier - Greenland's fastest moving glacier - in a bid to understand why glaciers speed up in the summer in their march to the sea.
The toys have been labelled "science experiment" and "reward" in three languages, and carry an email address.
The ducks, if found by someone who emails NASA about their discovery, could tell scientists how melting water moves through ice, Alberto Behar of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said.
"It's a beautiful place to visit. You can watch these icebergs continuously march across and fall into the ocean," Mr Behar said.
"Right now it's not understood what causes the glaciers themselves to surge in the summer."
That's where the rubber ducks come in, along with a probe about the size of a football loaded with a GPS transmitter and instruments that can tell much about the glacier's innards.
Mr Behar said he hoped a fisherman or hunter might find a duck or the probe but so far nothing had turned up.
"We haven't heard back but it may take some time until somebody actually finds it and decides to send us an email that they have found it," he said.
"These are places that are quite remote so there aren't people walking around."
The Jakobshavn Glacier is very likely the source of the iceberg that sank the Titanic in 1912 and researchers focus on it because it discharges nearly 7 per cent of all the ice coming off Greenland.
As the planet warms, its melting ice sheet could make oceans rise this century.
NASA scientists have dropped 90 of the ducks into holes in the Jakobshavn glacier - Greenland's fastest moving glacier - in a bid to understand why glaciers speed up in the summer in their march to the sea.
The toys have been labelled "science experiment" and "reward" in three languages, and carry an email address.
The ducks, if found by someone who emails NASA about their discovery, could tell scientists how melting water moves through ice, Alberto Behar of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said.
"It's a beautiful place to visit. You can watch these icebergs continuously march across and fall into the ocean," Mr Behar said.
"Right now it's not understood what causes the glaciers themselves to surge in the summer."
That's where the rubber ducks come in, along with a probe about the size of a football loaded with a GPS transmitter and instruments that can tell much about the glacier's innards.
Mr Behar said he hoped a fisherman or hunter might find a duck or the probe but so far nothing had turned up.
"We haven't heard back but it may take some time until somebody actually finds it and decides to send us an email that they have found it," he said.
"These are places that are quite remote so there aren't people walking around."
The Jakobshavn Glacier is very likely the source of the iceberg that sank the Titanic in 1912 and researchers focus on it because it discharges nearly 7 per cent of all the ice coming off Greenland.
As the planet warms, its melting ice sheet could make oceans rise this century.
www.smh.com.au/news/environment/global-warming/nasa-using-rubber-ducks-to-fight-global-warming/2008/09/23/1221935595649.html
Not what id call the most sophisticated solution.
ing cold.
