"It would make more sense that record sea ice was recorded in the summertime"
Sure... you make more sea ice when the sun is shining 24/7 than you do when it's totally gone for about 4 months. Really? Should I remind you it's almost summer solstice down there, or would you prefer to think summer starts 6/21?
Antarctic Glacier Primed to Form Iceberg"
By OurAmazingPlanet Staff | LiveScience.com – Tue, Nov 20, 2012
news.yahoo.com
A nascent iceberg breaks off Pine Island Glacier's calving front. Icebergs in this area of the Amundsen Sea most often rise between 150 and 200 feet above the water surface. (Photo: Maria-José Viñas/NASA)
This small Antarctic increase is actually the result of much larger regional increases and decreases, which are now shown to be caused by wind-driven changes. Arctic Ocean is surrounded by land so winds cannot cause Arctic ice to expand in the same way as in Antarctic. While East Antarctic has shown little change or even a small cooling around the coast, the Antarctic Peninsula has warmed as anywhere else in the Southern Hemisphere. Glacial ice of Antarctic Ice Sheet is losing its volume and frozen seawater is expanding. Glaciers drain ice from mountains to lower levels, where the ice either melts, breaks away into the sea as icebergs, or feeds into an ice shelf.
thewatchers.adorraeli.com
The difference between the rate of warming at the two poles is attributed to geographical differences. "Antarctica is a continent surrounded by water, while the Arctic is an ocean surrounded by land. Wind and ocean currents around Antarctica isolate the continent from global weather patterns, keeping it cold. In contrast, the Arctic Ocean is intimately linked with the climate systems around it, making it more sensitive to changes in climate," said a spokesman for the NSIDC.
guardian.co.uk
The effects of land masses need to be considered. In fact, the Arctic icepack formed cuz the Isthmus of Panama closed.
Why did Antarctica become covered by massive ice sheets 34 million years ago, while the Arctic Ocean acquired its ice cap only about 3 million year ago?
whoi.edu |
