Questions tagged [antarctic]

Glacially covered continental mass in the Southern Hemisphere.

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But what exactly is "black carbon" in the context of snow-melting particulates reaching Antarctica?

CNN's What is black carbon? The latest way humans are causing changes in Antarctica doesn't actually say anything about what black carbon is. Neither does The Guardian's Black carbon pollution from ...
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Antarctic and arctic meltwater is "bad" because it's dark, but why is transparent liquid on white stuff so dark?

The Washington Post's Antarctic heat wave melted 20 percent of an island’s snow cover in days, caused melt ponds to proliferate includes the figure below of meltwater ponds on top of snow/ice. The ...
uhoh's user avatar
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Young researcher hoping to volunteer for Antarctica fieldwork

I am a postdoctoral scholar who is interested participating in Antarctica fieldwork/exploration as a volunteer. My background is in biology, but I am happy to participate in any fieldwork ...
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Why antarctic research stations are built above ground instead of on the ground or underground?

Many online sources stresses how much the antarctic wind is dangerous for the structures and for the personnel, yet most buildings I see are built off the ground. I suppose that is due to the ...
Leonardo Ciferri's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
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Simple way to understand these narrow frequency peaks in recently published "ice shelf singing"?

The Earther.Gizmodo.com article Scientists Discover a Weird Noise Coming From Antarctic Ice Shelf links to the American Geophysical Union video (an more importantly audio) (AGU) This is what an ...
uhoh's user avatar
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Why don't Antarctic waters have more upwellings, when Arctic waters are so rich in upwellings?

Formation of ice and hence more dense saltwater sinking happens in both polar regions, creating downwellings. Meanwhile, only a few spots in Antarctica have upwellings I refer to this image: https://...
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1 answer
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How could this "aztec temple" mountain (or volcano) have been formed on Antarctica? [duplicate]

[Update: This was not a duplicate of the other question since the mountain shape is rather different. This was already stated in my question below.] This question is a bit similar to this other ...
arredondo1991's user avatar
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2 answers
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Do Antarctic research stations use any of the local resources, like water, or is everything flown in?

There are serious ideas, if not quite yet plans, for space missions to the Moon and Mars to take advantage of in situ resources, such as producing oxygen for propulsion (e.g. for a sample return) out ...
LocalFluff's user avatar
14 votes
1 answer
377 views

What is likely to have happened with these newly discovered antarctic volcanos below the ice?

The Guardian article Scientists discover 91 volcanoes below Antarctic ice sheet highlights a recently published University of Edinburgh School of Geosciences discovery and cataloging of over ninety ...
uhoh's user avatar
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How do glaciers move? Could Antarctica be separated?

Consider the example of the Larsen Ice Shelf. Ice platforms are attached to glaciers such that they prevent surrounding warm air from directly melting the glaciers. This is an important aspect of ice ...
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1 answer
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The giant 6,000 km$^2$ iceberg A-68; will ground-truth telemetry supplement satellite tracking data?

update 2: FIRST images of A-68 iceberg not taken from a satellite in space but from the air are out. On this NASA Earth Observatory web page are areal images from NASA's Operation IceBridge taken from ...
uhoh's user avatar
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How can ice crystals with adsorbed chlorine remain over the south pole all winter?

I just saw the Periodic Video Ozone on Bondi Beach - Periodic Table of Videos where the impact of Chlorine from CFCs on Ozone is discussed. At around 04:00 or so, ...
uhoh's user avatar
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Does the Antarctic Ozone Hole affect the rest of the world?

Sometimes you read about skin cancer and the ozone hole in Australia. But when you look it up the ozone hole is basically just near the South Pole, and maybe a bit above the North Pole (because that’s ...
someonesomewhere's user avatar
18 votes
2 answers
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Is this 70km crack in an ice shelf of Antarctica remarkable, or a regular occurrence?

I've just seen the LiveScience article 70-Mile-Long Crack Opens Up in Anatarctica. I'm not sure if the title is a bit sensational or not, the crack is in an ice shelf, not the continent of Antarctica. ...
uhoh's user avatar
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Relationship between obliquity, antarctic circumpolar current, and atmospheric $\ce{CO2}$

Hannah's text on the biology of climate change appears to suggest that forcing due to changes in obliquity can act in opposite ways in Antarctic waters. On one hand, "Low obliquity brings cool ...
Eric's user avatar
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The Role of the Antarctic Circumpolar Vortex & Ocean Current in Keeping Antarctica Frozen

An offshoot from the question how does Antarctica stay frozen? Do the Anatarctic circumpolar vortex and circumpolar ocean current play a role in keeping Antarctica frozen?
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Will the Southern Ocean act as a net source or sink for atmospheric $\ce{CO2}$ in the future?

Some estimates claim that currently about one third of current human annual emissions of $\ce{CO2}$ are absorbed by the oceans. Some authors have calculated that about half of the global ocean total ...
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13 votes
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Is Antarctic sea ice at record levels?

Every time I read a news article about Antarctic ice extent, I don't seem to have a clear answer as to what the deal is. If I look at the February sea ice extent from the National Snow and Ice Data ...
arkaia's user avatar
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How much has the total transport of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current changed over time?

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), the oceanic current that flows around the Antarctic continent, has many links to weather and climate processes (e.g., Is there conclusive evidence for the ...
arkaia's user avatar
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How strong can a glacial icequake get?

While researching Antarctic geology, I came across the term 'icequake' in the abstract to the article Seismicity within a propagating ice shelf rift: The relationship between icequake locations and ...
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What geophysical knowledge have we learned by the construction of IceCube?

The IceCube is a particle detector at the South Pole that records neutrino interactions. It has lead to many fascinating new discoveries in the field of astrophysics (e.g., 1, 2) and it was awarded "...
arkaia's user avatar
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11 votes
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Is there conclusive evidence for the Antarctic Circumpolar Current developing after the glaciation of Antarctica?

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is the continuous oceanic current that encircles the Antarctic continent, as is often explained in the literature as being the cause of the onset of glaciation ...
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17 votes
1 answer
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Can earthquakes contribute to Antarctic ice loss?

I read about the earthquake that took place in Japan in 2011, led to some small calving events in Antarctica (link). So, it makes me think if there is a big earthquake near or in Antarctica, can it ...
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22 votes
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Is there any explanation for the large amount of sea ice around Antarctica in 2014?

As can be seen from the below data, for the past year or so (2014), sea ice surrounding Antarctica has been well above normal. Currently, Antarctic sea ice is at an all-time record high for this time ...
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18 votes
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Paleogene transantarctic seaway

Lawver & Gahagan (1998; 2003) hypothesized, based on sea level records and the isostatically adjusted bedrock surface of Antarctica, the existence of a Trans-Antarctic Seaway linking the Ross Sea ...
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