Polar ice packs
hidePolar ice packs are large areas of pack ice formed from seawater in the Earth's polar regions, known as polar ice caps: the Arctic ice pack (or Arctic ice cap) of the Arctic Ocean and the Antarctic ice pack of the Southern Ocean, fringing the Antarctic ice sheet. Polar packs significantly change their size during seasonal changes of the year. However, underlying this seasonal variation, there is an underlying trend of melting as part of a more general process of Arctic shrinkage.
In spring and summer, when melting occurs, the margins of the sea ice retreat. The vast bulk of the world's sea ice forms in the Arctic ocean and the Southern Ocean, around Antarctica. The Antarctic ice cover is highly seasonal, with very little ice in the austral summer, expanding to an area roughly equal to that of Antarctica in winter. Consequently, most Antarctic sea ice is first year ice, up to 1 meter thick. The situation in the Arctic is very different (a polar sea surrounded by land, as opposed to a polar continent surrounded by sea) and the seasonal variation much less[citation needed], currently 28% of Arctic basin sea ice is multi-year ice, thicker than seasonal: up to 3–4 meters thick over large areas, with ridges up to 20 meters thick.
The amount of sea ice around the poles in winter varies from the Antarctic with 18,000,000 km² to the Arctic with 15,000,000 km².[citation needed] The amount melted each summer is affected by the different environments: the cold Antarctic pole is over land, which is bordered by sea ice in the freely-circulating Southern Ocean.
For more information about Polar ice packs, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with arctic sea ice
Cave study links climate change to California droughts
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 10, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (6) |
0
California experienced centuries-long droughts in the past 20,000 years that coincided with the thawing of ice caps in the Arctic, according to a new study by UC Davis doctoral student Jessica Oster and geology professor ...
Feds designate polar bear habitat in Alaska
Oct 22, 2009 |
2.9 / 5 (7) |
1
(AP) -- The Obama administration said Thursday it is designating more than 200,000 square miles in Alaska and off its coast as "critical habitat" for polar bears, an action that could add restrictions to ...
Arctic sea ice recovers slightly in 2009, remains on downward trend (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 06, 2009 |
2.4 / 5 (14) |
8
(PhysOrg.com) -- Despite a slight recovery in summer Arctic sea ice in 2009 from record-setting low years in 2007 and 2008, the sea ice extent remains significantly below previous years and remains on a trend ...
Planned emission cuts still mean far hotter Earth
Sep 24, 2009 |
1.6 / 5 (13) |
2
(AP) -- Earth's temperature is likely to jump nearly 6 degrees between now and the end of the century even if every country cuts greenhouse gas emissions as proposed, according to a United Nations update.
Carcasses of dead walruses spotted on Alaska coast
Sep 17, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
1
(AP) -- Up to 200 dead walruses have been spotted on the shore of Chukchi Sea on Alaska's northwest coast.
CU-Boulder Unmanned Aircraft Buzz Over Gigantic Holes in Antarctic Sea Ice
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 10, 2009 |
2 / 5 (2) |
0
A series of record-setting unmanned research flights are providing University of Colorado at Boulder researchers with some of the first 3-D observations of gaping holes in the Antarctic sea ice known as polynyas ...
Tipping elements remain a 'hot' issue
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 24, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (55) |
7
(PhysOrg.com) -- Research published by climate scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) has been named one of the most highly-cited in its field in the last two years.
Mystery mechanism drove global warming 55 million years ago
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jul 13, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (25) |
24
A runaway spurt of global warming 55 million years ago turned Earth into a hothouse but how this happened remains worryingly unclear, scientists said on Monday.
New NASA Satellite Survey Reveals Dramatic Arctic Sea Ice Thinning
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jul 07, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (65) |
6
(PhysOrg.com) -- Arctic sea ice thinned dramatically between the winters of 2004 and 2008, with thin seasonal ice replacing thick older ice as the dominant type for the first time on record. The new results, ...
British explorers cut short trek to North Pole
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 14, 2009 |
2.2 / 5 (11) |
3
(AP) -- British explorers in northern Canada to measure the thickness of floating Arctic sea ice ended their expedition short of reaching the North Pole due to an early summer ice melt, the team said Thursday.
Obama won't fight global warming with bear rules
May 08, 2009 |
5 / 5 (8) |
5
(AP) -- The Obama administration, which promised a sharp break from the Bush White House on global warming, declared Friday it would stick with a Bush-era policy against expanding protection for climate-threatened ...
Gov't faces weekend deadline on polar bear rule
May 08, 2009 |
2.3 / 5 (3) |
1
(AP) -- A decision involving the iconic polar bear could determine whether protecting endangered species might also help save the earth from global warming.
Increasing Antarctic sea ice extent linked to the ozone hole
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Apr 21, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (70) |
12
Increased growth in Antarctic sea ice during the past 30 years is a result of changing weather patterns caused by the ozone hole according to new research published this week (Thurs 23 April 2009).
Cuts in greenhouse gas emissions would save Arctic ice, reduce sea level rise
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Apr 14, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (88) |
15
The threat of global warming can still be greatly diminished if nations cut emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases by 70 percent this century, according to a new analysis. While global temperatures would ...
Ice-free Arctic Ocean possible in 30 years, not 90 as previously estimated
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Apr 02, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (62) |
20
(PhysOrg.com) -- A nearly ice-free Arctic Ocean in the summer may happen three times sooner than scientists have estimated. New research says the Arctic might lose most of its ice cover in summer in as few ...
- Pages: 1
