Antarctic Climate Research Expedition Trapped In Sea Ice 209
First time accepted submitter Stinky Cheese Man writes "An Antarctic climate research expedition, led by climate researcher Chris Turney of the University of New South Wales, has become trapped in heavy ice near the coast of Antarctica. The captain has issued a distress call and three nearby icebreaker ships are on their way to the rescue. According to Turney's web site, the purpose of the expedition is 'to discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south.'"
Re:Mission accomplished (Score:4, Informative)
You should learn the difference between Sea Ice [wikipedia.org] an Ice Shelf [wikipedia.org] and an Ice Sheet [wikipedia.org] before spouting off showing your ignorance. I stand by my statement that Antarctic sea ice melts nearly completely every year. Regarding the Antarctic Ice Sheet which you cited it's a big chunk of ice and would take several thousand years to completely melt under any imaginable circumstances.
Re:Mission accomplished (Score:5, Informative)
The story itself has nothing to do with global warming nor even the increase in Antarctic sea ice. It's about a ship that got caught by shifting winds closing existing ice around it and trapping it which is possible with nearly any amount of sea ice in the vicinity. But it was a sure thing that global warming would come into the conversation.
Re:That sword cuts both ways buddy (Score:2, Informative)
Have the stones to admit you don't actually understand what you thought you did.
I would love it if the deniers took that to heart. It appears to me that most of them aren't willing to wade deeply enough into the real science necessary for understanding.
As far as the increase in Antarctic sea ice goes the scientific explanation (as always subject to revision with new information) is that it's partially due to the ozone hole over Antarctic which cools down the atmosphere and increases the strength of the circumpolar winds which push the ice around opening up polynyas which subsequently freeze over increasing the sea ice area. Another factor is changes due to global warming in currents and precipitation lead to the water being fresher on the surface of the ocean and more easily frozen. There is no indication that it's simply due to colder temperatures.
Re:Mission accomplished (Score:5, Informative)
One interesting fact about Antarctica is that the sea ice essentially melts out completely every year so there is no carry over from one year to the next like there is in the Arctic.
I have to admit I was a bit wrong on this. I've been saying that for a while and decided to check on it. I downloaded the monthly mean sea ice extent and area from the NSIDC*. [colorado.edu] The data covered from November 1978 to November 2013. The Antarctic sea ice minimum monthly extent always occurs in February and is around 3 million miles^2 varying mostly from about 2.5-3.5. The Antarctic sea ice maximum always occurs in September and is around 19 M mi^2 varying mostly from about 18.5-19.25 except it was a record 19.77 last September.
So I was wrong that it melts out completely but it drops around 85% every year. In my defense that may be valid for some values of "essentially melts out completely". ) The remaining sea ice is mainly in the Weddell Sea (about half of it according to the Mk. 1 eyeball) which is protected from the prevailing currents and winds by the Antarctic Peninsula and along the Western Antarctic coast which is further south than most of the continent. One other interesting thing I discovered was that the sea ice extent drops precipitously from November to January every year from around 16.5 M mi^2 to around 5 M mi^2.
I could do the area too but I've already spent too long on this research so I'll leave it there but it was fun.
* Data cite: Fetterer, F., K. Knowles, W. Meier, and M. Savoie. 2002, updated 2009. Sea Ice Index. [indicate subset used]. Boulder, Colorado USA: National Snow and Ice Data Center. http://dx.doi.org/10.7265/N5QJ7F7W [doi.org].