Fans of doomsday scenarios will be glad to know that estimates of the loss of ice from Antarctica have just doubled.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-studies-find-previously-unknown-loss-of-antarctic-ice

NASA Studies Find Previously Unknown Loss of Antarctic Ice.

New research on Antarctica, including the first map of iceberg calving, doubles the previous estimates of loss from ice shelves and details how the continent is changing.

The greatest uncertainty in forecasting global sea level rise is how Antarctica’s ice loss will accelerate as the climate warms.

One study, published in the journal Nature, maps how iceberg calving – the breaking off of ice from a glacier front – has changed the Antarctic coastline over the last 25 years. The researchers found that the edge of the ice sheet has been shedding icebergs faster than the ice can be replaced. This surprise finding doubles previous estimates of ice loss from Antarctic’s floating ice shelves since 1997, from 6 trillion to 12 trillion metric tons. Ice loss from calving has weakened the ice shelves and allowed Antarctic glaciers to flow more rapidly to the ocean.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05037-w

The other study, published in Earth System Science Data, shows in unprecedented detail how the thinning of Antarctic ice as ocean water melts it has spread from the continent’s outward edges into its interior, almost doubling in the western parts of the ice sheet over the past decade. Combined, the complementary reports give the most complete view yet of how the frozen continent is changing.

https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/14/3573/2022/

mollwollfumble said:

Fans of doomsday scenarios will be glad to know that estimates of the loss of ice from Antarctica have just doubled.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-studies-find-previously-unknown-loss-of-antarctic-ice

NASA Studies Find Previously Unknown Loss of Antarctic Ice.

New research on Antarctica, including the first map of iceberg calving, doubles the previous estimates of loss from ice shelves and details how the continent is changing.

The greatest uncertainty in forecasting global sea level rise is how Antarctica’s ice loss will accelerate as the climate warms.

One study, published in the journal Nature, maps how iceberg calving – the breaking off of ice from a glacier front – has changed the Antarctic coastline over the last 25 years. The researchers found that the edge of the ice sheet has been shedding icebergs faster than the ice can be replaced. This surprise finding doubles previous estimates of ice loss from Antarctic’s floating ice shelves since 1997, from 6 trillion to 12 trillion metric tons. Ice loss from calving has weakened the ice shelves and allowed Antarctic glaciers to flow more rapidly to the ocean.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05037-w

The other study, published in Earth System Science Data, shows in unprecedented detail how the thinning of Antarctic ice as ocean water melts it has spread from the continent’s outward edges into its interior, almost doubling in the western parts of the ice sheet over the past decade. Combined, the complementary reports give the most complete view yet of how the frozen continent is changing.

https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/14/3573/2022/

It would appear that Doomsday scenarios are actually Reality scenarios. Those that believe otherwise are slowly sliding into irrelevance.

In the Northern Hemisphere the anthropologists and archaeologists are coming out in droves, as the receding ice is uncovering secrets from millennia ago, ancient stick dart tools and more, which under other climate conditions would have decomposed aeons ago. Something educational out of something alarming. They are impressed by the tool skills and the precision of the tools for hunting.

PermeateFree said:

mollwollfumble said:

Fans of doomsday scenarios will be glad to know that estimates of the loss of ice from Antarctica have just doubled.

It would appear that Doomsday scenarios are actually Reality scenarios. Those that believe otherwise are slowly sliding into irrelevance.

This.

monkey skipper said:

In the Northern Hemisphere the anthropologists and archaeologists are coming out in droves, as the receding ice is uncovering secrets from millennia ago, ancient stick dart tools and more, which under other climate conditions would have decomposed aeons ago. Something educational out of something alarming. They are impressed by the tool skills and the precision of the tools for hunting.

That’s great! I hadn’t known that.

I keep wishing it was possible to look for aboriginal artefacts under Bass Strait.

mollwollfumble said:

monkey skipper said:

In the Northern Hemisphere the anthropologists and archaeologists are coming out in droves, as the receding ice is uncovering secrets from millennia ago, ancient stick dart tools and more, which under other climate conditions would have decomposed aeons ago. Something educational out of something alarming. They are impressed by the tool skills and the precision of the tools for hunting.

That’s great! I hadn’t known that.

I keep wishing it was possible to look for aboriginal artefacts under Bass Strait.

The Rhine is at a record low also.

While I’m here, I may as well check on Greenland’s ice sheet melting

Higher during July than the average melt rate 27 years ago.

Not truly on topic.

Several so-called “islands” around Antarctica such as Roosevelt Island are actually just “ice rises” with no rocky component above sea level.

If we were to remove all the ice from Antarctica right now (ie simply make it vanish), what we’d see as land is the green/yellow/brown portions of this map. The cyan/blue/purple would be below the sea.

Much of it would remain as a contiguous land mass, with some major islands (e.g. Palmer Land, much of Marie Byrd Land).

Currently the southernmost skerrick of exposed rock is in the southern part of the Queen Maud Mountains. This is also the location of the southernmost plants, such especially hardy algae, lichens and moss, at around 87 deg S, some 300 km from the South Pole.

The Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station sits atop a layer of ice about 2700 metres thick. The bedrock beneath it is very close to sea level.

dv said:

Not truly on topic.

Several so-called “islands” around Antarctica such as Roosevelt Island are actually just “ice rises” with no rocky component above sea level.

If we were to remove all the ice from Antarctica right now (ie simply make it vanish), what we’d see as land is the green/yellow/brown portions of this map. The cyan/blue/purple would be below the sea.

Much of it would remain as a contiguous land mass, with some major islands (e.g. Palmer Land, much of Marie Byrd Land).

Currently the southernmost skerrick of exposed rock is in the southern part of the Queen Maud Mountains. This is also the location of the southernmost plants, such especially hardy algae, lichens and moss, at around 87 deg S, some 300 km from the South Pole.

The Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station sits atop a layer of ice about 2700 metres thick. The bedrock beneath it is very close to sea level.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antarctic-science/article/abs/algae-lichens-and-fungi-in-la-gorce-mountains-antarctica/0AE3049CADDA5802B9C8969A514CD0A5
Algae, lichens and fungi in La Gorce Mountains, Antarctica

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225122013_High_diversity_of_lichens_at_84S_Queen_Maud_Mountains_suggests_preglacial_survival_of_species_in_the_Ross_Sea_region_Antarctica
High diversity of lichens at 84°S, Queen Maud Mountains, suggests preglacial survival of species in the Ross Sea region, Antarctica

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223349163_Terrestrial_microarthropods_of_Victoria_Land_and_Queen_Maud_Mountains_Antarctica_Implications_of_climate_change
Terrestrial microarthropods of Victoria Land and Queen Maud Mountains, Antarctica: Implications of climate change

I have tremendous respect for people who get airlifted into mountain ranges within cooee of the pole to scrape for lichens and count springtails. I’d be bitching too much about the cold to focus on the work.

dv said:

dv said:

Not truly on topic.

Several so-called “islands” around Antarctica such as Roosevelt Island are actually just “ice rises” with no rocky component above sea level.

If we were to remove all the ice from Antarctica right now (ie simply make it vanish), what we’d see as land is the green/yellow/brown portions of this map. The cyan/blue/purple would be below the sea.

Much of it would remain as a contiguous land mass, with some major islands (e.g. Palmer Land, much of Marie Byrd Land).

Currently the southernmost skerrick of exposed rock is in the southern part of the Queen Maud Mountains. This is also the location of the southernmost plants, such especially hardy algae, lichens and moss, at around 87 deg S, some 300 km from the South Pole.

The Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station sits atop a layer of ice about 2700 metres thick. The bedrock beneath it is very close to sea level.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antarctic-science/article/abs/algae-lichens-and-fungi-in-la-gorce-mountains-antarctica/0AE3049CADDA5802B9C8969A514CD0A5
Algae, lichens and fungi in La Gorce Mountains, Antarctica

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225122013_High_diversity_of_lichens_at_84S_Queen_Maud_Mountains_suggests_preglacial_survival_of_species_in_the_Ross_Sea_region_Antarctica
High diversity of lichens at 84°S, Queen Maud Mountains, suggests preglacial survival of species in the Ross Sea region, Antarctica

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223349163_Terrestrial_microarthropods_of_Victoria_Land_and_Queen_Maud_Mountains_Antarctica_Implications_of_climate_change
Terrestrial microarthropods of Victoria Land and Queen Maud Mountains, Antarctica: Implications of climate change

I have tremendous respect for people who get airlifted into mountain ranges within cooee of the pole to scrape for lichens and count springtails. I’d be bitching too much about the cold to focus on the work.

I’m a wimp in cold weather too.

dv said:

dv said:

Not truly on topic.

Several so-called “islands” around Antarctica such as Roosevelt Island are actually just “ice rises” with no rocky component above sea level.

If we were to remove all the ice from Antarctica right now (ie simply make it vanish), what we’d see as land is the green/yellow/brown portions of this map. The cyan/blue/purple would be below the sea.

Much of it would remain as a contiguous land mass, with some major islands (e.g. Palmer Land, much of Marie Byrd Land).

Currently the southernmost skerrick of exposed rock is in the southern part of the Queen Maud Mountains. This is also the location of the southernmost plants, such especially hardy algae, lichens and moss, at around 87 deg S, some 300 km from the South Pole.

The Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station sits atop a layer of ice about 2700 metres thick. The bedrock beneath it is very close to sea level.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antarctic-science/article/abs/algae-lichens-and-fungi-in-la-gorce-mountains-antarctica/0AE3049CADDA5802B9C8969A514CD0A5
Algae, lichens and fungi in La Gorce Mountains, Antarctica

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225122013_High_diversity_of_lichens_at_84S_Queen_Maud_Mountains_suggests_preglacial_survival_of_species_in_the_Ross_Sea_region_Antarctica
High diversity of lichens at 84°S, Queen Maud Mountains, suggests preglacial survival of species in the Ross Sea region, Antarctica

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223349163_Terrestrial_microarthropods_of_Victoria_Land_and_Queen_Maud_Mountains_Antarctica_Implications_of_climate_change
Terrestrial microarthropods of Victoria Land and Queen Maud Mountains, Antarctica: Implications of climate change

I have tremendous respect for people who get airlifted into mountain ranges within cooee of the pole to scrape for lichens and count springtails. I’d be bitching too much about the cold to focus on the work.

But you have probably been blessed with other gifts.
I’ve heard you were showing great promise as a stamp collector at an early age.

Peak Warming Man said:

dv said:

dv said:

Not truly on topic.

Several so-called “islands” around Antarctica such as Roosevelt Island are actually just “ice rises” with no rocky component above sea level.

If we were to remove all the ice from Antarctica right now (ie simply make it vanish), what we’d see as land is the green/yellow/brown portions of this map. The cyan/blue/purple would be below the sea.

Much of it would remain as a contiguous land mass, with some major islands (e.g. Palmer Land, much of Marie Byrd Land).

Currently the southernmost skerrick of exposed rock is in the southern part of the Queen Maud Mountains. This is also the location of the southernmost plants, such especially hardy algae, lichens and moss, at around 87 deg S, some 300 km from the South Pole.

The Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station sits atop a layer of ice about 2700 metres thick. The bedrock beneath it is very close to sea level.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antarctic-science/article/abs/algae-lichens-and-fungi-in-la-gorce-mountains-antarctica/0AE3049CADDA5802B9C8969A514CD0A5
Algae, lichens and fungi in La Gorce Mountains, Antarctica

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225122013_High_diversity_of_lichens_at_84S_Queen_Maud_Mountains_suggests_preglacial_survival_of_species_in_the_Ross_Sea_region_Antarctica
High diversity of lichens at 84°S, Queen Maud Mountains, suggests preglacial survival of species in the Ross Sea region, Antarctica

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223349163_Terrestrial_microarthropods_of_Victoria_Land_and_Queen_Maud_Mountains_Antarctica_Implications_of_climate_change
Terrestrial microarthropods of Victoria Land and Queen Maud Mountains, Antarctica: Implications of climate change

I have tremendous respect for people who get airlifted into mountain ranges within cooee of the pole to scrape for lichens and count springtails. I’d be bitching too much about the cold to focus on the work.

But you have probably been blessed with other gifts.
I’ve heard you were showing great promise as a stamp collector at an early age.

Oh I think whoever said that was just being kind.

Be careful when searching on Queen Maud Mountains as you’ll get a lot of hits for Queen Maud Land, which is a very different place.