Questions tagged [antarctica]
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I just read news that Antarctica had set a new record high temperature, above 18 °C. How can this be the case if it is currently winter there?
Currently it is winter in Antarctica. According to news I read, Antarctica has set a new record high temperature, above 18 °C. How did this temperature records occur?
6
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3answers
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Has Antarctica's coastline been completely mapped? (map discrepancies)
Looking at different world maps, I noticed that there is considerable variety in how the coastline of Antarctica is depicted (even when taking the different map projections into consideration).
Are ...
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0answers
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If its ice sheet were removed under modern atmospheric conditions, what climatic and ice-sheet equilibrium would be re-established over Antarctica?
Note the use of the term removed instead of melted—as in, any excess water is moved to where it can't cause trouble, either through the use of advanced technology (space elevators, et cetera) or for ...
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3answers
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Are Ice Ages Affected by the Freezing Out of CO2 in Antarctica?
The freezing point of carbon dioxide is -78.5 $\small\mathsf{^o}$C. Occasionally this low is exceeded in Antarctica, and small quantities of CO2 are frozen out, but are returned soon after to the ...
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1answer
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What is the strength of the Earth's magnetic field at McMurdo Station, Antarctica?
Based on this map,
Below are images showing more specific detail.
I assume the field strength is between 0.6 gauss and 0.65 gauss, but I cannot tell between which ios-flux lines (if that is a ...
6
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1answer
134 views
Does Antarctica have a lot of aquifers?
I got to thinking about freshwater on Antarctica. Obviously, there is a lot of freshwater ice. However, the deeper you go underground, eventually the dirt will be warmed geothermically. So does the ...
3
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1answer
159 views
Have russian drilling operations in lake Vostok succeeded yet?
A couple of years ago the russians began drilling through about 2 km of ice to reach lake Vostok in Antarctica. It was hoped that they would find living organisms there which had been entombed under ...
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2answers
110 views
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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1answer
83 views
Is "Chasm One" the really the name of this feature on the Brunt Ice Shelf?
The BBC News article Antarctic: No role for climate in Halley iceberg splitting says:
With no-one on the ice surface, notice of any breakaway will have to come from automated in-situ ...
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0answers
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What (if any) "in-situ instrumentation" is on the Brunt Ice Shelf that will detect its splitting and breaking away?
The BBC News article Antarctic: No role for climate in Halley iceberg splitting says:
With no-one on the ice surface, notice of any breakaway will have to come from automated in-situ ...
4
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1answer
98 views
Giant Cavern the Size of Manhattan Under Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica - how was satellite and airborne radar data combined?
This is a follow-up question to Giant Cavern the Size of Manhattan Under Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica.
The work is reported in an open access paper in Science: Heterogeneous retreat and ice ...
6
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1answer
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Giant Cavern the Size of Manhattan Under Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica
Avery Thompson writes in Popular Mechanics
In Thwaites’ case, that radar uncovered a gigantic cavern between the glacier itself and the bedrock below it. That cavern is likely filled with air much ...
9
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2answers
155 views
Why is McMurdo Station in Antartica more hostile than Longyearbyen (Norway), while Longyearbyen is closer to the pole?
McMurdo Station in Antartica (operated by the USA) is 77.85 degrees south (and 166.69 east), Longyearbyen (Norway) is the northernmost settlement with scheduled flights all year at 78.24 degrees north ...
3
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1answer
159 views
What are these radial line patterns shown in representations of antarctica?
In the video of the recent Iridium-6/GRACE-FO launch at about T+ 33:00 (curently at 49:00 in the video) the 2nd stage passes ...
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2answers
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Is there sand in Antarctica?
There's a song "Blizzard's Never Seen the Desert's Sand". Given Antarctica is a desert, someone questioned the title's validity. BUT is there sand in Antarctica?
I'd imagine yes as it's a pretty ...
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1answer
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Antarctica Exploration [closed]
Which parts of Antarctica are unexplored? What about the underwater world of Antarctica? Specifically, what information do we have about it?
What is so interesting about exploring Antarctica when ...
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2answers
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How could this pyramidal Mountain have been formed?
How could this pyramidal peak have been formed in Antarctica? Little is known about it as far as I know but what is known is that its miles away from any existing plate boundary and its shape is also ...
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2answers
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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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4answers
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Considering how old the Antarctic ice cover is, why isn't it much thicker?
The Wikipedia article on the subject of the "Antarctic ice sheet" says that:
The icing of Antarctica began in the middle Eocene about 45.5 million
years ago and escalated during the Eocene–...
14
votes
2answers
1k views
How and when people first realized that Antarctica is a continent?
Recently I got startled by this question I asked myself and I can't seem to find any sources of answers.
I have hypotheses about how it could have happened:
It could have been by the fact that if you ...
9
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1answer
167 views
Dataset for expected sea level rise in case of massive meltdowns (Greenland/Antarctica)
Around the time climate change became a 'public issue' (let's say shortly after An inconvenient truth came out), figures started getting published about the expected (global) sea level rise in case of ...
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1answer
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Is it coincidence that Antarctica is centered on the south pole?
Looking at a globe, Antarctica looks remarkably centered on the south pole. Has the rotation of the earth had any effect on the position of the landmass?
8
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1answer
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What is more important in Antarctica calving or basal melting of the ice shelves?
Ice shelves are present along 75% of Antarctica coast and cover over 1.5 million km2. The two main processes causing mass loss of the ice shelf are basal melting and calving. Which of the two ...
11
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3answers
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How does Antarctica stay frozen?
Antarctica receives heat from the Sun every day, so how does it stay frozen?
I have some thoughts about the answer but I'm unsure of whether it is correct; I hope people here can clarify.
My idea: ...
10
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1answer
131 views
What is the age of the Gamburtsev Mountains?
The mechanism for the formation of the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains in East Antarctica seems to be a combination of old volcanism and Cretaceous rifting (Ferraccioli et al., 2011). While the ...
13
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1answer
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Active rifting in Antarctica?
The West Antarctic Rift exists between the Trans-Antarctic Mountains and Marie Byrd Land (see map below for reference)
Image source: NASA
The rift system is believed to be like the East African Rift,...
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2answers
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How deep is the permafrost in the Antarctic?
I tried in vain to find the answer to this question on the web, but all it would tell me was, "it is very deep", and "it is known as a thaw line rather than a frost line in the arctic and antarctic". ...
12
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1answer
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Glaciology: odd pattern of smooth and ribbed chunks of ice in Antartica
At -69.184611, -68.124276 (just east of the Bugge Islands) there is a triangular ice shelf. On satellite images (as seen on Google/Bing maps) you can see it is riddled with --for lack of a clearer ...
14
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1answer
302 views
Where does the biggest land-based ice cap reside?
I'm thinking biggest in volume, regarding which area of the planet will contribute more to a raising in sea level - were the ice in those regions to melt.
I can basically think of two candidates, ...
