All Questions
Tagged with glaciology ice-sheets
16 questions
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Help understanding radar data in subglacial lake complex beneath Devon Ice Cap
The BBC News article Isolated lakes found beneath Canadian ice sheet links to the open access Science Advances article Discovery of a hypersaline subglacial lake complex beneath Devon Ice Cap, ...
- 6,904
7
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2
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1k
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How does ice-penetrating radar "see" through kilometers of ice without being absorbed?
The BBC News article Isolated lakes found beneath Canadian ice sheet links to the open access Science Advances article Discovery of a hypersaline subglacial lake complex beneath Devon Ice Cap, ...
- 6,904
5
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2
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184
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Would the enthalpy of fusion for melting ice fields be a causative factor for colder winter weather?
Would the enthalpy of fusion for melting ice fields be a causative factor for colder winter weather?
As an example, NASA estimated the annual loss of the Greenland ice field 2002-2013 as more than ...
10
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4
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450
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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–...
- 211
6
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3
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4k
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Can ice caps reform if they disappear?
Excuse my ignorance. I'm under the impression that there are various types of ice at the poles, but I don't know the difference or the significance of each type, so, in terms of whatever is actually ...
- 163
11
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Will increased precipitation in Antarctica prevent sea level rise?
It has been suggested that global warming will lead to increased precipitation in parts of Antarctica. This would sequester water in the ice sheet, preventing sea level rise.
However, the slope (and ...
- 2,359
5
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1
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241
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At what rate are the polar ice caps shrinking?
At what rate is loss of polar ice caps occurring? Do we have enough data to distinguish a meaningful trend? If we look at the trend since we have satellite measurements (40 years or so), is that ...
- 693
8
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1
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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 ...
- 15.5k
17
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2
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438
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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 ...
user889
12
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1
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129
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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 "...
- 15.5k
13
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1
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305
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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 ...
- 133
8
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1
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What evidence is there linking melting ice caps and changes in tectonic movement?
Reading one of my other questions, How much would the Greenland landmass isostatic rebound contribute to long term climate change?, a subsequent question is what, if any, effect the isostatic rebound ...
user889
17
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1
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513
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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 ...
- 795
9
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1
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751
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How are the thickness of ice sheets from previous glaciation periods determined?
How is the thickness/depth of ice sheets from previous glaciation periods determined? I've for instance often seen statements that the ice sheet over Scandinavia at the last glacial period maximum (i....
- 363
14
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1
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328
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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, ...
- 243
11
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3
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5k
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How long to melt all the polar ice?
The answers to this question say that the sea level will rise 66m if all the polar ice, etc, melts.
How long will this take?
Transporting incredible amounts of heat energy to the poles and injecting ...
- 239