Global Nature Of Rapid Snow & Ice Melt Shows Global Climate Shift

[hatrack]

Washington, D.C. - Surrounded by winter snow and ice, melting seems like a good thing, but, on a global scale, the melting of ice sheets and glaciers is a sign of global warming, according to a Penn State glaciologist. "The really big picture shows change in the ice and those changes look like what we get is a world that is a little warmer," says Richard B. Alley, the Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences. "We currently do not include all these processes in the models that predict the global future. Summarizing published literature, Alley notes that spring snows in the Arctic have decreased without a decrease in overall precipitation. A shift in the snowy season is an indication of warming.

As seen by satellites, Arctic sea ice is smaller and sea ice thickness measured by submarines is thinner. "For the time period with especially good records, northern sea ice clearly shows a downward trend," says the Penn State researcher. "There may also be a downward trend in the south." One explanation for the changes in the Arctic sea ice is a change in the circulation of the oceans and atmosphere. But the circulation change, which itself may be brought on by warming, does not seem to fully explain the changes in sea ice. Atmospheric warming may simply be causing melting.

"Mountain glaciers are typically more sensitive to temperature than other controls," says Alley. "Most mountain glaciers are getting smaller. Some are disappearing, others just shrinking."

Recent reports indicate that the large ice sheets in Antarctica and on Greenland are growing fatter in the middle due to slightly increased snow. Increased snow may be a sign of warming because warmer air holds more moisture for precipitation. In a few places on the margins of the ice, the ice sheets are getting smaller. The water from the shrinking ice sheets slightly raises ocean levels. "Both of these changes look like some sort of response to environmental warming," says Alley."

EDIT

http://live.psu.edu/story/10455

[Mnemosyne]

1. Thank you hatrack, but don't you remember....

there is no such thing as global warming?!!! Idjuts.