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Difference between revisions of "Climate of Antarctica"
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Westarctica (talk | contribs) (Created page with "Antarctica has the coldest climate on the Earth. Antarctica's lowest air temperature record was set on 21 July 1983, with −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F) at Vostok Station in...") |
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==Ice shelves== | ==Ice shelves== | ||
About 75% of the coastline of Antarctica is [[ice shelf|ice shelves]]. The utmost parts consist of floating ice until the grounding line of land based glaciers is reached, which is determined through efforts such as [[Operation IceBridge]]. Ice shelves lose mass through [[iceberg]] breakup (calving), or basal melting (at the foot of the glacier, when warm ocean water impacts), and this can affect ice sheet stability when the land based glaciers start to retreat; melting or breakup of floating shelf ice does not directly affect global sea levels, however, when sea ice freezes, it preferentially expels salt, in the process becoming purer than the sea water it is floating in. Pure water is less dense than salty water, so when the ice melts it will overflow the "hole in the water" that the ice had occupied, and when it overflows, it raises the water level. | About 75% of the coastline of Antarctica is [[ice-shelf|ice shelves]]. The utmost parts consist of floating ice until the grounding line of land based glaciers is reached, which is determined through efforts such as [[Operation IceBridge]]. Ice shelves lose mass through [[iceberg]] breakup (calving), or basal melting (at the foot of the glacier, when warm ocean water impacts), and this can affect ice sheet stability when the land based glaciers start to retreat; melting or breakup of floating shelf ice does not directly affect global sea levels, however, when sea ice freezes, it preferentially expels salt, in the process becoming purer than the sea water it is floating in. Pure water is less dense than salty water, so when the ice melts it will overflow the "hole in the water" that the ice had occupied, and when it overflows, it raises the water level. | ||
Known changes in coastline ice: | Known changes in coastline ice: | ||