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[bemildred]

1. Because the ice sheets are moving, that is why. nt

[snooper2]

2. um no LOL

[bemildred]

4. Why scientists are so worried about the ice shelves of Antarctica

When it comes to climate change, Antarctica is one of the world’s major places of concern, mostly because of the sheer amount of ice it contains — enough to theoretically cause about 200 feet of sea-level rise if it were all to melt — not that anyone thinks that will happen anytime soon. Still, smaller parts could be destabilized, and understanding how the Antarctic ice sheet will react to future climate change is a big priority for scientists.

One important key to building this understanding is studying Antarctic ice shelves, which are large, floating platforms of ice — sometimes spanning hundreds or thousands of square miles — that form where where an ice sheet meets the ocean.

“They play an incredibly important role in constraining the flow of this land ice into the ocean,” says Luke Trusel, a postdoctoral scholar at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, comparing ice shelves to the “cork in a champagne bottle.” If an ice shelf breaks off, it can unleash a flow of ice into the ocean from the ice sheet behind it, which can contribute to sea-level rise in a major way. Indeed, without ice shelves to provide buttressing, glaciers behind the ice shelves flow faster, pouring more and more ice into the ocean.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/10/12/why-scientists-are-worried-about-the-ice-shelves-of-antarctica/

[snooper2]

5. VICE

[jpak]

11. umm yeah - and fresh water freezes at a higher temperature than seawater

[pintobean]

3. It's settled science

Why worry about it?

[Rex]

6. Ain't that some shit? Just like reality to do the opposite of what we expect it to do.

Must be a law or something.

[hunter]

7. Baffled Perplexed Scientists!

That's always a sign of excellent science journalism.



Well, at least they referenced an actual article, which doesn't sound at all like something "perplexed" scientist wrote. In the article a computer model generates a good hypothesis.

"Driven by the intensifying winds, the model simulates an increase in sea ice speed, convergence, and shear deformation rate, which produces an increase in ridge ice production in the Southern Ocean (1.1% yr?1). "

http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00139.1

"Global warming" isn't like snow melting in your garden on a warm spring day. It means more energy driving the earth's weather systems; in this case more wind stacking up thin ice into something more durable.

[HereSince1628]

12. Seemingly counter-intuitive things peak interest among readers and among scientists

One of the things computer modelling biological systems taught me was that seemingly counter-intuitive observations are often produced when the intuitive model/paradigm used to compared 'the intuitively expected' is overly simple.

If your 'intuitive model' is as simple as warming southern oceans should under all circumstances reduce the extent of antarctic sea ice, it's likely a suggestion that simple model is too simple.

[karadax]

8. I find it amusing that

I find it amusing that its easier to acknowledge and accept the presence of natural variability in the South Pole versus the North Pole.

Lots of people go for the throat when it's even brought up that the Arctic melt could be a result of more natural processes than man made. The last study I read had it at about 50/50. The possibility exists.

[Spider Jerusalem]

9. Nope

[Rex]

13. But but but...that one guy! You know...the IT expert said

We actually had a climate change denier on here yesterday, pretending an IT expert knew more than NASA...it was a real hoot!

[jpak]

14. nope plus 2

[OnlinePoker]

24. Here's a more up to date image of the Greenland Ice Mass Anomaly

http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard/greenland_ice_sheet.html

[dawg]

10. It's probably flattening and thinning.

Surface area is a vastly different measurement than volume.

But, of course, any speculation on my part or your part is useless. Let the actual scientists figure out why. In the meantime, we already know that anthropomorphic climate change is doing large-scale damage to countless envirornments. The need to stop it or mitigate it is no longer in doubt, regardless of what is happening in the Antarctic at the moment.

[ananda]

15. Thank you.

The surface area spreading out due to thinning actually makes
some sense to me.

[philosslayer]

16. Nope

From the article:

“The polar vortex that swirls around the South Pole is not just stronger than it was when satellite records began in the 1970s, it has more convergence, meaning it shoves the sea ice together to cause ridging,” the study’s press release explains. “Stronger winds also drive ice faster, which leads to still more deformation and ridging. This creates thicker, longer-lasting ice, while exposing surrounding water and thin ice to the blistering cold winds that cause more ice growth.”

[dawg]

18. Yeah. I don't think that means exactly what you think it does.

Sounds like it's getting pushed up in some places, getting thinned out in others. And it says nothing about the vast portion of the ice sheet which is based not upon the sea, but atop the continent itself.

Of course, we all know by now that the results of climate change aren't always what we expect. So it is possible that global warming could, for a time, lead to increased accumulations of ice in certain areas while it depletes in others.

That's why it is so maddeningly important that the world take this situation seriously. The consequences go far, far beyond just a few degrees of increased temperature. The potential for drastic disruption of the world's economy is something that should not be ignored.

[Downwinder]

17. 2015 Antarctic Maximum Sea Ice Extent Breaks Streak of Record Highs

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2015-antarctic-maximum-sea-ice-extent-breaks-streak-of-record-highs

Who are you going to believe?

[Mendocino]

19. Fresh water

Water resulting from melting ice on land is fresh. When it it flows to the sea, being less dense it stays on top. It also has a higher freezing point 32f, saltwater 28f. So it will freeze more easily than the saltwater it is displacing.

A great concern is that all this freshwater will disrupt the natural currents and streams of water causing some localized areas of the world to cool down even as world temps on the whole increase.

[GeorgeGist]

20. That dataset cited by WAPO doesn't back up their claim.

ftp://sidads.colorado.edu/DATASETS/NOAA/G02135/south/daily/data/


and WAPO article directly contradicts NASA report: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2015-antarctic-maximum-sea-ice-extent-breaks-streak-of-record-highs

[OKIsItJustMe]

21. Wrong, wrong, wrong

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1127&pid=92470

[tabasco]

22. And a senator had a snowball in Congress!!

Global warming is obviously a librul conspiracy to take our trucks away!

[OKIsItJustMe]

23. Um… this story is from September 23, 2013

Did you intentionally leave the date off?

[OnlinePoker]

25. From NSIDC

This year’s maximum was the sixteenth highest in the 35-year record.

http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2015/10/antarctic-sea-ice-at-its-2015-maximum/

[randys1]

26. Climate change denial and murder are the same in my book.

[Scootaloo]

27. Edit: Just read the other posts. disingenuous OP