A little good news to offset all the otherwise dismal shit around here:
A new study from Toronto researchers suggests that the collapse of a large portion of the Antarctic ice sheet would shift the very axis of the Earth.
Okay, that wasn't the good news part...
Link
"The melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet will actually cause the Earth´s rotation axis to shift rather dramatically -- approximately 500 metres from its present position if the entire ice sheet melts," states a release from U of T's physics department.
Well, at least it's only 500 meters.
"The net effect of all of these processes is that if the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapses, the rise in sea levels around many coastal regions will be as much as 25 per cent more than expected, for a total of between six and seven metres if the wholeice sheet melts," said geophysicist Jerry Mitrovica.
"That´s a lot of additional water, particularly around such highly populated areas as Washington, D.C., New York City, and the California coastline."
At least it isn't likely to affect anywhere important, like Omaha.
Okay, I lied, there's not a single scrap of good news to be found here. So sue me.