Wednesday, March 30, 2016

3/30/16  Antarctica Ice Sheet and Climate Change

Planning for any travel experience, requires research. Planning for travel to Antarctica requires learning about the impact of climate change on this vast , 5.5 million square mile ice sheet... and the impact that changes in the ice sheet will have on the Earth and its inhabitants, both human and animal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/31/science/global-warming-antarctica-ice-sheet-sea-level-rise.html?emc=edit_au_20160330&nl=afternoonupdate&nlid=33570895


A view from a NASA airplane of large icebergs that have broken from the calving side of Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica in November 2014. A disaster scenario of West Antarctic ice sheet disintegration could occur much sooner than previously thought, new research suggests.CredAndit  Jim Yungel/NASA   The  combination of the melting of the Antarctica Ice Sheet, the Greenland ice Sheet etc. could raise sea level by 5 - 6 feet by 2100... during the life time of children living today -- our grandchildren, perhaps! 

                              

Under the Ice Sheet

The vast West Antarctic ice sheet sits on bedrock that dips thousands of feet below sea level. New computer simulations suggest that the warming atmosphere and ocean could attack the ice sheet from above and below, causing sea levels to rise much faster than previously thought. 










                                            
Sources: Nature; Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences; British Antarctic Survey; Bedmap2
By The New York Times































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