Related topics: ice , greenland , sea level , antarctic , glaciers
Ice sheet
hideAn ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km² (20,000 mile²). The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland; during the last glacial period at Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) the Laurentide ice sheet covered much of Canada and North America, the Weichselian ice sheet covered northern Europe and the Patagonian Ice Sheet covered southern South America.
Ice sheets are bigger than ice shelves or glaciers. Masses of ice covering less than 50,000 km2 are termed an ice cap. An ice cap will typically feed a series of glaciers around its periphery.
Although the surface is cold, the base of an ice sheet is generally warmer due to geothermal heat. In places, melting occurs and the melt-water lubricates the ice sheet so that it flows more rapidly. This process produces fast-flowing channels in the ice sheet — these are ice streams.
The present-day polar ice sheets are relatively young in geological terms. The Antarctic Ice Sheet first formed as a small ice cap (maybe several) in the early Oligocene, but retreating and advancing many times until the Pliocene, when it came to occupy almost all of Antarctica. The Greenland ice sheet did not develop at all until the late Pliocene, but apparently developed very rapidly with the first continental glaciation. This had the unusual effect of allowing fossils of plants that once grew on present-day Greenland to be much better preserved than with the slowly forming Antarctic ice sheet.
For more information about Ice sheet, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with ice sheet
Sea level is rising along US Atlantic coast, say environmental scientists
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 10, 2009 |
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An international team of environmental scientists led by the University of Pennsylvania has shown that sea-level rise along the Atlantic Coast of the United States was 2 millimeters faster in the 20th century ...
Sea Level Is Rising Along U.S. Atlantic Coast, According to New Data Analysis
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 03, 2009 |
3.7 / 5 (13) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- An international team of environmental scientists led by the University of Pennsylvania has shown that sea-level rise along the Atlantic Coast of the United States was 2 millimeters faster in the 20th century ...
Greenland glaciers: What lies beneath
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 15, 2009 |
3.6 / 5 (5) |
1
Scientists who study the melting of Greenland's glaciers are discovering that water flowing beneath the ice plays a much more complex role than they previously imagined.
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Big freeze plunged Europe into ice age in months
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 30, 2009 |
4 / 5 (17) |
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In the film, 'The Day After Tomorrow' the world enters the icy grip of a new glacial period within the space of just a few weeks. Now new research shows that this scenario may not be so far from the truth after all.
Ships warned about icebergs headed for New Zealand
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 25, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Ships are on alert and maritime authorities are monitoring the movements of hundreds of menacing icebergs drifting toward New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean, officials said.
Kansas scientists probe mysterious possible comet strikes on Earth
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 14, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (16) |
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It's the stuff of a Hollywood disaster epic: A comet plunges from outer space into the Earth's atmosphere, splitting the sky with a devastating shock wave that flattens forests and shakes the countryside.
First comprehensive review of the state of Antarctica's climate
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 01, 2009 |
3.8 / 5 (12) |
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The first comprehensive review of the state of Antarctica's climate and its relationship to the global climate system is published this week by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). The review - Antarctic ...
Study: Earth's polar ice sheets vulnerable to even moderate global warming
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 16, 2009 |
2.8 / 5 (46) |
41
A new analysis of the geological record of the Earth's sea level, carried out by scientists at Princeton and Harvard universities and published in the Dec. 16 issue of Nature, employs a novel statistical approa ...
In Greenland, warming fuels dream of hidden wealth
Nov 27, 2009 |
3.5 / 5 (4) |
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(AP) -- Gert Ignatiussen returns to this fjord-front Inuit town with the spoils of his hunting trip. Six seals, all killed with a single shot to the head.
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