explod
explod
- Joined
- 4 March 2007
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Errrrmmmmmmmmm not quite old chum ......
http://www.skepticalscience.com/antarctica-gaining-ice.htm
But but but NASA can't be wrong ?
http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/antarctic-sea-ice-reaches-new-record-maximum
Alarming eh? Yes yes yes the ANTARCTIC LAND ICE is melting ... at the rate of 0.19mm ocean rise per year and expected to take several 1000's of years before complete meltdown at the ate.
The ARCTIC is where the BIG defrosting is happening. Since the late 1970s, the Arctic has lost an average of 20,800 square miles (53,900 square kilometers) of ice a year; the Antarctic has gained an average of 7,300 square miles (18,900 sq km).
Penguins in Antarctica, Polar bears in Arctic. Crazy world huh?
These accounts have been around for some time and in fact distort what is a very complex situation. The amount of melt is increasing in the antarctic region and the amount of new ice and snow is increasing. From the satellites the mass of ice/snow growth in the winter is huge but in summer it dissapears even more.
Because of the small amount of warming we have an increase in volotility. As we know, warm air rises and the warmth creates increased cloud cover which in turn expands the blanket or if you like cover and therefore more rain, snow and ice. That is also the reason for the increased intensity of storms etc., nearer to the equator from both poles.
The northern hemisphere experienced a very cold and intense winter just gone. With the extreme cold across Victoria, where live, and reports of this around the country we appear to be heading into a very cold and bleak winter.
Antartica of course gets down to 60 below, so a shift up the scale of a degree or two is not going to make a big difference there in appearance, but this small amount of increased warmth looks like it is going to have a huge effect due this displacement effect.
Meanwhile we still have record droughts in the inland and only this morning we have Tony Abbott discussing what relief can be provided for the record dry at Longreach in central Qld.
The whole issue is so complex that few scietists can encompass it all, which of course opens the way for the finger-pointing and ridicule.