What is happening to the ice sheets in Antarctica? (global warming)?

Question

What is happening to the ice sheets in Antarctica? (global warming)?

Answer 1

atnjkn312000

"Do you know that the eruption of Mt St Helens in 1980 equaled the man made CO2 output of 25 years?"

The main effect of Volcanoes is cooling through sulphur and particulates not warming, and human compared to volcanic co2 emmisions are no contest.

This USGS link

Has the figures under the heading

"Comparison of CO2 emissions from volcanoes vs. human activities." and to quote.

"Human activities release more than 130 times the amount of CO2 emitted by volcanoes"

Rule303 Sadly for these 'other planets are warming' theories the Sun has been monitored by satellite for thirty years and in that time it simply hasn't shown any increase, and even in your science daily link the sun isn't mentioned as a cause.

as Jay Pasachoff an astronomer states in this link related to Pluto.

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2002/pluto...

Answer 2

Um... they are melting.(and consequently disappearing)

Answer 3

s... you've asked a fair question but unfortunately, you've woken up all the boys from badscienceland!

First, an answer to your question: The ice sheets in Antarctica, on a year-to-year comparision, are shrinking at a rate, as far as we can tell, faster than at any other time in this planet'history - and by 'we' I mean the world's leading climatology experts.

Now for the bad science boys:

atnjkn: Yes, it's happened before, but never at this rate. The AGW gang always ignore the fact that the climate change issue is about rate of change, not absolute change - this is deliberate distortion of fact.

"The idea that mankind causes this is totally unproven"... nope, quite the opposite - the science proves - to a factor of 90% or better that mankind has caused this (http://www.ipcc.ch/).

Volcanoes are NOT the biggest source of CO2 emissions: humans emit 150X as much CO2 as volcanoes; this has been known for over 14 years...(http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/Gases/man.... ).

I'd love to see your calculations re CO2 emissions because humans are responsible for 100% of the increase in those emissions since 1750... Again, the AGW gang try to confuse things by (purposefully?) misunderstanding the theory - it is about upsetting the balance, not totals.

Once again, we see the political bias as Al Gore gets dragged in and crucified; for serious analysts of climate change, Al Gore is simply a publicist; doing good work, but is not responsible for the facts and science at the heart of our understanding; making this into a US-centric republican-democrat issue is once again, an attempt to deliberately obscure the truth.

And, of course, there are many things that all of us could do to help the environment (and, coincidentally help ourselves by lowering our costs, living longer etc, and our nations by becoming more independent of foreign oil for example) but people such as atnjkn prefer to be selfish.

Michael: Gives no backing for his statements. Yes, the ice grows back, but at present, it doesn't grow all the way back - this is why we say, 'year-on-year' they are shrinking; Even if they do take hundreds of years to melt completely, so what? A 30% melt in our lifetimes still means a 50m+ rise in sea levels (goodbye New York!).

As for "the ice caps won't melt completely unless the sun shines directly"- why not? The ice in my drink melts whether I put it in the sun or not.

Going cranky keeps repeating this stuff about volcanoes under the ice melting it but has never given a single reference or source to back him up - it's pure rubbish!

Tomcat - the antarctic is not getting colder and the ice sheet is shrinking at a rate of 36 cu. miles per year: 13,000 sq km in the past 50 years including the Larsen A ice shelf, which measured 1,600 sq km, (broke off in 1995) and the 1,100 sq km Wilkins ice shelf (fell off in 1998) and the 13,500 sq km Larsen B (dropped away in 2002).(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/42284...

(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...

Of course, global climate change creates a variety of localised changes; in the antarctic, the middle of the ice sheet (around the south pole) is getting colder but the edges are getting warmer - the AGW guys love to point out it is getting colder in the middle but conveniently forget the so what? bit. It IS getting colder at the pole, but the ice sheet IS still shrinking/melting and, from our perspective, it is the melting that is the important fact, not the temperature at the pole.

Rule303 (and others) love to bring in other planets... What, exactly, does the climate on Jupiter, Mars, Pluto, etc have to do with the climate on Earth. Climate is an incredibly complex science - all of a sudden, these guys want to say that there is one, and only one factor that affects climate and that this factor (whatever it is, they never specify) must affect all planets at the same time... what???? Where's the science for this (again, no source, no reasoning, no facts, no logic)?

OK, that'll do for today!

Answer 4

Mellllltttiiiinnnngggg!  They're mellllttttiiinnngggg!  (Get it?  Like the wicked witch....?) Just kidding, but this is no laughing matter.  Basically they're either melting or breaking off into the water (oceans), which means sea levels are rising (not exactly a good thing):'(

Answer 5

It is winter down there and that means about - 50 deg. F.

Answer 6

I tottaly agree with atnjkn3! Before I went to a camp, I was all OMG global warming is gonna kill us all! But then, my trail group leader told us that the earth goes through cycles, and it heats itself then cools itself. this point in time, it's obviously heating. But what scientists are concerned about is that this one heating cycle could put us just over the edge of substainable for life, and put us at the end of the world.

BE AWARE! GLOBAL WARMING IS REAL!

Answer 7

Antarctica continues to get colder and the sea ice continues to thicken and expand, the Southern Hemisphere in general does not show much warming when compared to the Northern Hemisphere.

Antarctica Sea Ice Extent:

http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/s_plo...

North Vs. South:

http://www.john-daly.com/nh-sh.htm

Answer 8

They are melting, but they grow back every year. ice is always moving and the complete melting of Green land and the artics would take hundreds of years. If you think about it the ice caps won't melt completely unless the sun shines directly head on to it.

Answer 9

It`s not GW. scientist now say volcano under the sea is causing melting, but scientist say there is more sea ice  now than last year. go figure

Answer 10

The antarctic is cooling:

http://www.globalwarming.org/node/160

While the arctic is warming:

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/resource...

Hmmm...

The same thing is happening on Jupiter:

According to Philip S. Marcus, a professor of fluid dynamics at UC Berkeley, analysis of the Hubble and Keck images may support his 2004 conjecture that Jupiter is in the midst of global climate change that will alter temperatures by as much as 10 degrees Celsius, getting warmer near the equator and cooler near the south pole.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200...

Naaa...It must be unatural. Just like Earth. As for that big thermonuclear reactor in the sky...forget about it. As for Jupiters gravitational heating...forget about it. Must have been caused by the exaust from Galileo.

EDIT:

"Climate is an incredibly complex science - all of a sudden, these guys want to say that there is one, and only one factor that affects climate..."

Interesting point. While CO2 has become some sort of monomania for the AGW crowd.

I bring up the other planets to show that climate changes without SUVs. And by the way that it is an incredibly complex thing. Not something manipulated by man.

"Rule303 Sadly for these 'other planets are warming' theories the Sun has been monitored by satellite for thirty years and in that time it simply hasn't shown any increase, and even in your science daily link the sun isn't mentioned as a cause.

as Jay Pasachoff an astronomer states in this link related to Pluto."

I never said that the Sun was the sole cause, I mentioned the Sun, and yes it does change in intensity every 11 years, and its magnetic cycle changes ever 22. We of course are closer to the Sun, and yes believe it or not it does have some impact on the Earths climate and weather patterns. To deny this is absolutely ludicrous. Polarity, insolation, the rotation all have impact on the climate. Solar cycles do correlate with changes in the climate. In other words, the climate is "complex". To claim it is driven solely by CO2 levels while "denying" the effects of other variables is bad science.

Answer 11

They are shrinking.  and guess what?  It's completely Natural!  It's happened dozens of times before mankind inhabited the earth.  It's a cycle,  the earth warms for a few thousand years after an ice age,  Ice recedes to the poles, then presto the cycle continues and in a few thousand more years the ice sheets reach halfway to the equator.  Any comperetent geologist can prove this and many have done so.  The idea that mankind causes this is totally unproven since the cycle has repeated dozens of times before Mammals appeared in the fossil records much less man.  Yes, CO2 increases global warming.  Do you know that the biggest source of CO2 emmisions is volcanic in nature?  Do you know that the eruption of Mt St Helens in 1980 equaled the manmade CO2 output of 25 years?  Do You understand that that one single volcano is still actively contributing more CO2 to our atmosphere than the activity of man in the 3 states surrounding it?  Now, multiply that output by the number of major and minor and continueing eruptions worldwide before then and since.  Then add in the Sulpher dioxide and atmospheric ash from all volcanic sources.  Then consider the CO2 content of every breath YOU exhale.  Add in the CO2 from yer car and yer lawn mower and the emmissions from the industry and power sources our society produces.  Just compare these manmade contributors with the CO2 pollution from lightning caused forest fires alone on a long term basis.  If you do the math I have done you will find that manmade CO2 is responsable for no less than 10% and no more than 20% of total global CO2 output.  In the global energy cycle man plays a minimal part!  Certainly, global warming is happening.  To think Man is causing it or can control it is pure fiction.  The earth will warm till the balance tips........then another ice age will come.  If Man gave up all use of fire it would not slow the next ice age by a thousand years.  Al Gore and all his liberal scientists can preach till they turn blue from the cold and they will change the weather patterns of our earth NOT ONE useful degree.  Another Ice age is coming.........I'm wise enough to know there is not one d**n thing I can do to stop or slow it.  Let the enviro freaks give up their cars and their jets and their air conditioned million dollar homes first if they are so d**n concerned.  It won't help a bit but they would be almost believable if they even attempted to live on my energy budget.  Their do as I say not as I do example is totally non productive.

Answer 12

The ice is expanding in Antarctica, and the ice is thickening.

Answer 13

Antarctica's ice is actually doing quite well. Just recently, the continent set its highest ever ice extent since records have been kept. Antarctica, for the most part, has been the polar opposite (no pun intended) of what we have seen in the Arctic regions.

BTW: Here is an image from Antarctica when the ice there set its record last Sept/Oct - http://bp0.blogger.com/_L6pDyjqqsvY/Rw5j...

Answer 14

Ice sheets in Antarctica is melting due to increase in temperature of earth surface (due to global warming).

All this results in melting of ice sheets, which increases the water level in water bodies; by this lower level grounds are flooded and are under watered.