• Space/Science
  • GeekSpeak
  • Mysteries of
    the Multiverse
  • Science Fiction
  • The Comestible Zone
  • Off-Topic
  • Community
  • Flame
  • CurrentEvents

Recent posts

John Wheeler's philosophy: "Beyond the Black Hole" RL October 16, 2025 10:00 pm (Space/Science)

Brosz baffled, Bondi busts Bolton ER October 16, 2025 2:08 pm (CurrentEvents)

Science backs up what I have been saying for years... RL October 15, 2025 7:59 pm (CurrentEvents)

No sugar tonight in my coffee, no sugar tonight in my tea ER October 15, 2025 5:07 pm (Space/Science)

Only thing surprising is that people are surprised... RL October 15, 2025 7:12 am (CurrentEvents)

Superwood BuckGalaxy October 14, 2025 5:46 pm (Space/Science)

Lucky U! ER October 14, 2025 2:17 pm (Off-Topic)

Lucky me? ER October 14, 2025 9:51 am (Off-Topic)

JPL about to lose ANOTHER 11% of its people RL October 13, 2025 12:00 pm (Space/Science)

Enjoy this and share.... RL October 13, 2025 3:36 am (CurrentEvents)

Already gutted, the CDC faces more brutal cuts RL October 11, 2025 9:45 pm (Space/Science)

A.Indecency RL October 11, 2025 9:37 pm (GeekSpeak)

Home » Space/Science

A Bipolar Planet April 3, 2014 6:41 pm ER

NEW STUDY SHOWS MAJOR INCREASE IN WEST ANTARCTIC GLACIAL LOSS

http://news.agu.org/press-release/new-study-shows-major-increase-in-west-antarctic-glacial-loss/

As Arctic sea ice melts away, at the rate of several percent a year, Antarctic sea ice continues growing in extent and breaking records, as climate change skeptics and global warming deniers keep gleefully pointing out.

The differences between the two poles are obvious. One is a land-locked sea covered by several meters of floating ice, the other a continent covered with miles-thick ice surrounded by sea. Although growing sea ice in the Antarctic may be a result of melting continental ice as this AGU article suggests, it still raises the possibility that perhaps the increase in Southern albedo may make up for its decrease in the North.

Is it possible some kind of equilibrium may be reached? The Antarctic ice cap is a colossal heat sink, and unlike the Arctic, it will continue to help cool Earth by reflecting summer sunlight until it is totally gone, regardless of how much melts away off the surface of the ice cap. The melt cooling of the surrounding seas may even create more Antarctic sea ice, helping to counteract the losses in the Arctic, perhaps even balancing them out–or maybe even overcompensating.

It is anybody’s guess how this will all work out, we might even get lucky and find the losses at one pole will be exactly made up by gains in the other. Even so, assuming this does happen, what will be the consequences to the global heat budget and oceanic/atmospheric circulation as a whole as this planetary asymmetry comes to dominate the climate? I have a feeling we’re about to find out.

Before we celebrate, there is one thing we should keep in mind. The Southern Hemisphere is mostly ocean. Most of the land, and the people, are to be found N of the Equator.

  • more info: by podrock 2014-04-05 07:49:10
    • Another factor was just noticed this year. by ER 2014-04-05 10:48:22
    • Equilibrium . . . by DanS 2014-04-04 05:26:29
      • Decreasing albedo by darkening snow... by ER 2014-04-04 07:10:44
        • Low testosterone does the same thing. Don't know about dark snow. by bowser 2014-04-07 14:55:57
          • You must be talkin' 'bout the famous Bedo Brothers. by ER 2014-04-07 14:58:56

      Search

      The Control Panel

      • Log in
      • Register