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Difference between revisions of "Ice sheet"
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The Antarctic Ice Sheet is the largest single mass of [[ice]] on Earth. It covers an area of almost 14 million km2 and contains 30 million km3 of ice. Around 90% of the Earth's ice mass is in Antarctica, which, if melted, would cause sea levels to rise by 58 meters. The continent-wide average surface temperature trend of Antarctica is positive and significant at >0.05 °C/decade since 1957. | The Antarctic Ice Sheet is the largest single mass of [[ice]] on Earth. It covers an area of almost 14 million km2 and contains 30 million km3 of ice. Around 90% of the Earth's ice mass is in Antarctica, which, if melted, would cause sea levels to rise by 58 meters. The continent-wide average surface temperature trend of Antarctica is positive and significant at >0.05 °C/decade since 1957. | ||
The Antarctic ice sheet is divided by the [[Transantarctic | The Antarctic ice sheet is divided by the [[Transantarctic Mountains]] into two unequal sections called the East Antarctic ice sheet (EAIS) and the smaller [[West Antarctic Ice Sheet]] (WAIS). The EAIS rests on a major land mass but the bed of the WAIS is, in places, more than 2,500 metres below sea level. It would be seabed if the ice sheet were not there. The WAIS is classified as a marine-based ice sheet, meaning that its bed lies below sea level and its edges flow into floating [[ice-shelf|ice shelves]]. The WAIS is bounded by the Ross Ice Shelf, the Ronne Ice Shelf, and outlet glaciers that drain into the [[Amundsen Sea]]. | ||
==Effects of global warming== | ==Effects of global warming== | ||
The Greenland, and possibly the Antarctic, ice sheets have been losing mass recently, because losses by ablation including outlet | The Greenland, and possibly the Antarctic, ice sheets have been losing mass recently, because losses by ablation including outlet [[glacier]]s exceed accumulation of snowfall. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), loss of Antarctic and Greenland ice sheet mass contributed, respectively, about 0.21 ± 0.35 and 0.21 ± 0.07 mm/year to sea level rise between 1993 and 2003. | ||
The IPCC projects that accumulation of snowfall on the Antarctic ice sheet is projected to outpace losses from melting. However, in the words of the IPCC, "Dynamical processes related to ice flow not included in current models but suggested by recent observations could increase the vulnerability of the ice sheets to warming, increasing future sea level rise. Understanding of these processes is limited and there is no consensus on their magnitude." More research work is therefore required to improve the reliability of predictions of ice-sheet response on [[global warming]]. | The IPCC projects that accumulation of snowfall on the Antarctic ice sheet is projected to outpace losses from melting. However, in the words of the IPCC, "Dynamical processes related to ice flow not included in current models but suggested by recent observations could increase the vulnerability of the ice sheets to warming, increasing future sea level rise. Understanding of these processes is limited and there is no consensus on their magnitude." More research work is therefore required to improve the reliability of predictions of ice-sheet response on [[global warming]]. | ||