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Encyclopedia > Antarctic ice sheet
A satellite composite image of Antarctica
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A satellite composite image of Antarctica

The Antarctic ice sheet is the largest single mass of ice on Earth. It covers an area of almost 14 million square km and contains 30 million cubic km of ice. Around 90 percent of the fresh water on the Earth's surface is held in the ice sheet, an amount equivalent to 70 m of water in the world's oceans. In East Antarctica, the ice sheet rests on a major land mass, but in West Antarctica the bed can extend to more than 2500m below sea level. The land would be seabed if the ice sheet were not there.[1] Download high resolution version (1282x1100, 257 KB) this is an image of antarticta from space File links The following pages link to this file: Antarctica ... Download high resolution version (1282x1100, 257 KB) this is an image of antarticta from space File links The following pages link to this file: Antarctica ... For other uses, see Antarctica (disambiguation). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Earth (IPA: , often referred to as the Earth, Terra, the World or Planet Earth) is the third planet in the solar system in terms of distance from the Sun, and the fifth largest. ... For the village on the Isle of Wight, see Freshwater, Isle of Wight. ... East Antarctica, also called Greater Antarctica, (80° S 80° E) is one of the two major regions of Antarctica, lying on the Indian Ocean side of the Transantarctic Mountains and comprising Coats Land, Queen Maud Land, Enderby Land, Mac. ... West Antarctica, or Lesser Antarctica () is one of the two major regions of Antarctica, lying on the Pacific Ocean side of the Transantarctic Mountains and comprising Marie Byrd Land, Ellsworth Land, and Antarctic Peninsula. ...


Ice enters the sheet through snow and frost and leaves by calving of icebergs and melting, usually at the base but also sometimes at the surface at warm sites[2]. An iceberg (a partial loan translation, probably from Dutch ijsberg (literally: mountain of ice),[1] cognate to German Eisberg) is a large piece of ice that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water. ...


Recent satellite data reported by NASA shows evidence that the total amount of ice in Antarctica has increased in the past few decades. This is significant because there is a large amount of ice in the area and some climate models predicting global warming also predict that some of the most severe warming would occur in Antarctica. This melting ice would raise sea levels significantly [3]. On the other hand, a warming climate in the southern hemisphere would transport more moisture to Antarctica so the ice sheet would in fact grow and somewhat counteract rising sea levels.[4] NASA Insignia Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2005-09-01, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ...


See also

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) blankets the continent of Antarctica west of the Transantarctic Mountains, covering the area called Lesser Antarctica. The WAIS is classified as a marine-based ice sheet, meaning that its bed lies well below sea level and its edges flow into floating ice shelves. ... Polar ice consists of sea ice formed from the freezing of sea water, as well as ice sheets and glaciers formed from the accumulation and compaction of falling snow. ... An ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km² (19,305 mile²). The only current ice sheets are Antarctic and Greenland; during the last ice age at Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) the Laurentide ice sheet covered much of Canada... Ross Ice Shelf An ice shelf is a thick, floating platform of ice that forms where a glacier or ice sheet flows down to a coastline and onto the ocean surface, typically in Antarctica or Greenland. ... Ross Ice Shelf in 1997 Ross Ice Shelf with Royal Society Range in the background, 1999 (NOAA) The Ross Ice Shelf (81°30′S 175°00′W) is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica (an area of half a million square kilometres, and about 800 km across: about the size... [http://www. ...

References

  1. ^ British Antarctic Survey
  2. ^ British Antarctic Survey: The Antarctic ice sheet and rising sea levels
  3. ^ http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20020820southseaice.html
  4. ^ British Antarctic Survey: The Antarctic ice sheet and rising sea levels

  Results from FactBites:
 
Ice sheet at AllExperts (513 words)
The only current ice sheets are Antarctic and Greenland; during the last ice age at Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) the Laurentide ice sheet covered much of Canada and North America, the Weichselian ice sheet covered northern Europe and the Patagonian Ice Sheet covered southern South America.
The Antarctic Ice Sheet first formed as a small ice cap (maybe several) in the early Oligocene, but retreating and advancing many times until the Pliocene, when it came to occupy almost all of Antarctica.
If global warming occurs, over the next century the Antarctic ice sheet is predicted to gain mass primarily because it is so cold that the extra warmth will not melt it significantly but will supply extra moisture; conversely the Greenland ice sheet is expected to lose mass through melting.
Antarctic Ice Shelves (536 words)
Antarctic Glaciers Speed Up: Scientists at NSIDC have found that glaciers around the area of the Larsen B Ice Shelf accelerated immediately after it collapsed early in 2002, and are still speeding up.
Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapse Triggered by Warmer Summers: Recent work by scientists at NSIDC, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and the University of Maryland, indicate that the shelves are particularly sensitive to climate change.
Ice Shelf Feels the Heat: "Warming waters may doom the Antarctic Peninsula's Larsen Ice Shelf, and other Antarctic ice shelves could be more endangered than had been thought, according to a paper published in the 31 October issue of Science." NSIDC researcher Ted Scambos is quoted in the paper.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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