Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




ICE WORLD
Resolving The Paradox Of The Antarctic Sea Ice
by Staff Writers
Atlanta GA (SPX) Aug 20, 2010


File image.

While Arctic sea ice has been diminishing in recent decades, the Antarctic sea ice extent has been increasing slightly. Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology provide an explanation for the seeming paradox of increasing Antarctic sea ice in a warming climate.

The paper appears in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science the week of August 16, 2010.

"We wanted to understand this apparent paradox so that we can better understand what might happen to the Antarctic sea ice in the coming century with increased greenhouse warming," said Jiping Liu, a research scientist in Georgia Tech's School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.

Currently, as the atmosphere warms, the hydrological cycle accelerates and there is more precipitation in the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica. This increased precipitation, mostly in the form of snow, stabilizes the upper ocean and insulates it from the ocean heat below.

This insulating effect reduces the amount of melting occurring below the sea ice. In addition, snow has a tendency to reflect atmospheric heat away from the sea ice, which reduces melting from above.

However, the climate models predict greenhouse gases will continue to increase in the 21st century, which will result in the sea ice melting at a faster rate from both above and below. Here's how it works. Increased warming of the atmosphere is expected to heat the upper ocean, which will increase the melting of the sea ice from below.

In addition, increased warming will also result in a reduced level of snowfall, but more rain. Because rain doesn't reflect heat back the way snow does, this will enhance the melting of the Antarctic sea ice from above.

"Our finding raises some interesting possibilities about what we might see in the future. We may see, on a time scale of decades, a switch in the Antarctic, where the sea ice extent begins to decrease," said Judith A. Curry, chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech.

.


Related Links
Georgia Institute of Technology
Beyond the Ice Age






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








ICE WORLD
Puzzle of Antarctic ice solved?
Atlanta (UPI) Aug 17, 2010
Arctic sea ice is shrinking due to climate change but the extent of Antarctic sea ice has grown slightly and U.S. researchers say they may have figured out why. Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have presented a possible solution to the conundrum at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, ScienceDaily.com reported Tuesday. As the atmosphere warms, the ... read more


ICE WORLD
LRO Reveals Incredible Shrinking Moon

A Hop, Skip And A Jump On The Moon - And Beyond

China's Lunar Twins

NASA Seeks Data From Innovative Lunar Demonstrations

ICE WORLD
Martian 'mud' volcanoes eyed for life

Opportunity Keeps On Driving To Endeavour Crater

Trip to Mars could leave crew dangerously weak - study

Opportunity Drives Five Times This Week

ICE WORLD
Senate 'space jobs' bill announced

CU Boulder Partners In FAA Commercial Space Transportation Center

Stanford Researchers Tapped To Help Make Rules For Commercial Space Travel

Working Like A Dog In Outer Space

ICE WORLD
China Finishes Construction Of First Unmanned Space Module

China Contributes To Space-Based Information Access A Lot

China Sends Research Satellite Into Space

China eyes Argentina for space antenna

ICE WORLD
ISS orbit corrected

ISS Reboosted And Cooling System Fully Operational

ISS Could Last Another Decade - Roscosmos

Astronauts make third space foray to fix ISS cooling pump

ICE WORLD
Arianespace Announces Launch Contracts For Intelsat-20 And GSAT 10 Satellites

Arianespace Launches Two Satellites

New Rocket Launch Period In And Around Tanegashima

Kourou Spaceport Welcomes New Liquid Oxygen And Liquid Nitrogen Production Facility

ICE WORLD
Planets In Unusually Intimate Dance Around Dying Star

Detector Technology Could Help NASA Find Earth-Like Exoplanets

NASA Finds Super-Hot Planet With Unique Comet-Like Tail

Recipes For Renegade Planets

ICE WORLD
Japan's Panasonic to boost plasma panel output in China

"Fahrenheit 451" author burns at idea of digital books

Safer Plastics That Lock In Potentially Harmful Plasticizers

Colorado Space Grant Consortium And LockMart To Develop CubeSat




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement