Quote:
Originally Posted by oil pan 4
Last year the antartic was only down 3% or 4% off its 1980 base line for ice coverage after being down what, 10 or 12%. I don't remember what the peak was.
What happens when the ice coverage exceeds 1980 levels?
|
Ice coverage is not ice volume,and the latter is the issue.
Ice loss is exceeding snowfall.
As the ice shelves disintegrate,the glaciers they used to buttress accelerate into the sea,raising sea-level.
And now Eastern Antarctic glaciers are going away.
Buoyant,rising meltwater from under the shelves,create convection gyres which induce warmer intermediate and deep water to the face of the submerged shelves,glaciers,amplifying the loss.
And while there is a lot of precipitation from all the evaporation,due to the warmer oceans,there are also stronger foehn winds which blow the snow off Antarctica,before it has a chance to stick.
And I'd say that we'd have 1980s ice cover when cows fly,but Reed Timmer vidiographed those last year,N-W of Cheyenne,Wyoming.