38
votes
Antarctic and arctic meltwater is "bad" because it's dark, but why is transparent liquid on white stuff so dark?
Water has lowest EM absorption in the blue part of light spectrum and increases rapidly towards both UV and red parts of spectrum.
As a result in visible light water is blue. Same goes for the ice ...
- 689
17
votes
Antarctic and arctic meltwater is "bad" because it's dark, but why is transparent liquid on white stuff so dark?
"Transparent" is not the same as "white" : white bodies reflect most of the light while transparent bodies let the light though. Once the light enters into water, it may need to travel a long way ...
- 277
9
votes
Accepted
What is likely to have happened with these newly discovered antarctic volcanos below the ice?
That's a very interesting study, but only provide very rough information on the posible volcanoes that might exist under the ice.
In the case of the volcanoes shown in the radargram I'll highlight ...
- 17.7k
9
votes
Accepted
Is this 70km crack in an ice shelf of Antarctica remarkable, or a regular occurrence?
Is an iceberg the size of Delaware [6,451 square kilometers] actually remarkable, or something that just happens from time-to-time?
In March 2000 iceberg B-15 formed which was 11,000 sq. km. and 295 ...
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8
votes
Do Antarctic research stations use any of the local resources, like water, or is everything flown in?
The Australian and Belgian Antarctic research stations use local resources for their respective water supplies.
Australia operates a number of stations. In the past, snow was melted but currently ...
- 25.1k
8
votes
Is this 70km crack in an ice shelf of Antarctica remarkable, or a regular occurrence?
Developing since 2014, the crack was projected in 2015 to lead to "the largest calving event since the 1980s," according to this report in The Cryosphere journal by glaciologists studying the region.
...
- 3,458
6
votes
Accepted
Why antarctic research stations are built above ground instead of on the ground or underground?
Antarctica is a whole continent and it is as diverse as any other continent.
There are two reasons buildings are often built off the ground on pillars.
1.- Avoid snow accumulation: Although in ...
- 17.7k
6
votes
How do glaciers move? Could Antarctica be separated?
Glaciers move by two processes:
Internal deformation
Basal sliding
This figure (made for my candidacy exam), exemplify both processes as if we were following a single block of ice within a glacier:
...
- 17.7k
6
votes
How do glaciers move? Could Antarctica be separated?
Glaciology is a large field of research, and I cannot include all aspects in a short answer. I'll try to give some concepts that can help you in your understanding of the cryosphere.
Glaciers are, ...
- 5,946
6
votes
Accepted
The giant 6,000 km$^2$ iceberg A-68; will ground-truth telemetry supplement satellite tracking data?
I can't imagine a moving object more suitable for remote sensing tracking than Iceberg A-68, with such slow displacement and huge size. So I don't think it will be particularly useful to install any ...
- 17.7k
4
votes
But what exactly is "black carbon" in the context of snow-melting particulates reaching Antarctica?
This issue has been extensively studied and identified. A Google search regarding the particle size of black carbon will yield a plethora of information.
Chemically, black carbon (BC) is a component ...
- 41
4
votes
Accepted
Simple way to understand these narrow frequency peaks in recently published "ice shelf singing"?
The wavelengths that travel through the ice have a faster speed of travel, and the physical size of the pressure variations that cause the sound are not 100 meters. It's more like 1 meter, so it's ...
- 1,349
3
votes
Accepted
Why don't Antarctic waters have more upwellings, when Arctic waters are so rich in upwellings?
First, we might want to distinguish between the different types of upwelling:
Coastal upwelling: It is the best known form of upwelling. Winds in these systems flow parallel to the coast (with the ...
- 15.5k
3
votes
Accepted
How could this "aztec temple" mountain (or volcano) have been formed on Antarctica?
Remember that Antarctica is covered in a sheet of ice. Strip away the ice and you get something like this:
(Source:Wikimedia Commons)
This is the Matterhorn in the Alps on the Swiss-Italian border. ...
- 3,629
3
votes
Antarctic and arctic meltwater is "bad" because it's dark, but why is transparent liquid on white stuff so dark?
Water (solid or liquid) has some absorbtion. It is rather low for pure water for visible or near-visible light and that's why water it is considered transparent. But only to an extent - few meters of ...
- 581
2
votes
But what exactly is "black carbon" in the context of snow-melting particulates reaching Antarctica?
Black carbon, aka "soot", is, in the context of Antarctica, the product of the ocean transport industry that brings tourists and supplies to Antarctica.
Ocean transport is poorly regulated ...
- 2,813
2
votes
Young researcher hoping to volunteer for Antarctica fieldwork
Try the long game:
Start reading up on the research that is being done. For the interesting ones, start corresponding with the authors asking questions about the work. They have to be good ...
2
votes
Does the Antarctic Ozone Hole affect the rest of the world?
The ozone hole size changes according to the season. It is usually larger in winter because cold temperature Why is the Ozone Layer 'hole' more pronounced in the Southern Hemisphere?
And in ...
- 315
1
vote
Do Antarctic research stations use any of the local resources, like water, or is everything flown in?
Limited amounts of plant foods are sometimes grown indoors near sunny windows during the Antarctic summer. This doesn't violate the Antarctic treaty, because the plants do not originate in Antarctica ...
- 758
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