Antarctica Ice Sheet

Antarctica is one of the most rapid warming areas on the Earth, climate change on Antarctica is crucial to the world and the continent itself. Although climate change on Antarctica isn't widespread as it a wide place, only a small amount of impact is taking place. Some areas in Antarctica are experiencing decreases within the sea ice whereas other areas have an increase in sea ice. Both changes are causing negative impacts on wildlife. (Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, 2014) Climate change has been a continuing scientific curiosity. Climate change is raising many concerns on not only the environmental and regulatory concerns but also within the economy, health, security, safety, and food production. (UNEP, 2009)

Antarctica is The world's fifth-largest continent,The landmass is made up of 98 percent ice and 2 percent rock holds the distinction of being the coldest, windiest, driest, and highest continent. Antarctica takes up about 5.4 million square mi. The icy plains highest point is Vinson Massif at 16,066 ft and lowest point is the Bentley Trench at −8,382 ft.

Antarctica has one of the only two polar ice caps on the planet Earth. It is called the Antarctic ice sheet and it covers about 98% of the Antarctic continent. Wikipedia says this is the largest ice mass on Earth; it covers about 5.4 million square miles, and is

Economic growth is vital to sustain human life; however, the unsustainable consumption of natural resources to attain this demand is leading to self-destruction. The Earth is facing environmental changes, including climate changes, which are altering the Earth system. Significantly higher thermal expansion is inescapable if the increasing pollution by carbon dioxide emission continues relentlessly. One evidence of this change is global warming and its impact in the Arctic Ice. The critical role of the Arctic in the global climate system implies that Arctic Ice changes will have far-reaching connotations for, and feedbacks to, the entire Earth. Currently, the warning signs include: rapid diminishing of sea ice, increased mass

Antarctica is essential for science because of its enormous effect on the Earth's climate and ocean systems. The Antarctic is critical our understanding of global climate change. Preserved in its four kilometre-thick ice sheet is a unique record of the

“The Glacier, and with it the Duck, might have moved since then.” Lou Sapienza is the lead organizer of a Coast Guard Operation searching for a missing World War II plane; the Grumman Duck and its lost crew. A challenging problem the party has with finding the Duck is the movement of glaciers since the planes went down close to 70 years ago. Since the 1950s the extent and the movement of the ice sheets have rapidly changed due to Global Warming. Most affected by this climate change is The Arctic, Antarctica and the Greenland Ice Cap. Lou Sapienza and his team of specialists only have a hand-drawn map of where the Duck crashed and an old radar survey from years ago. Their daring task is to predict how the movement of the ice sheet accelerated by global warming might have moved their missing plane. Since global warming is a problem, everyone will be affected by it in one way or another. It is time to act, to confront the problem and find a solution.

One of the photographers, James Balog, is currently working on a project called Extreme Ice Survey where he is photographically documenting the effects of the climate change regarding the melting of glaciers. He is helping the world by providing scientists and the world information on glaciers, how they form, how they melt and how they are going to change the world if we continue to be ignorant of the issue. He has been a part of the National Geographic team for over thirty years and has “broken new conceptual and artistic ground on one of the most important issues of our era: human modification of our planet’s natural systems.” (James Baolog, Founder & Director, Extreme Ice Survey/Founder, Earth Vision Trust.) As mentioned before, National Geographic has its eye constantly on the future with innovation and exploration. Right now, social networking and mobile applications rule our world. Instagram is one of the leading social media applications for photography, and National Geographic photographers are at the top of their game. National Geographic holds the largest Instagram brand at 2.4 million followers. Not to mention that each photographer has their own Instagram as well, and usually reaches well over one hundred thousand followers. This continues sharing the stories and images with followers all over the planet on a more personal level. It also makes exploration and learning as simple as clicking a button. The up and coming generation is more educated than any other

It actually grows in size in the winter because as it gets colder, more water freezes around it. The Antarctic Ice Sheet is “the largest single mass of ice on Earth”. (Pegg) There are no trees or bushes. There is no agricultural land. “The ice in the Eastern part of the continent averages 1.2 miles thick”. (Redd) The eastern part of the continent is colder than the western part, because the elevation is higher on the the eastern side. Even though it’s a cold place, there are still volcanoes in Antarctica. Out of the many volcanoes there, Mount Erebus is the tallest and most active. It’s last eruption was in 2011. (Redd) Another active volcano is the Deception Island volcano, which is off the Antarctic Peninsula. Deception Island is a common tourist attraction, because people can bathe in the water warmed by the volcano while being surrounded by

There are a lot of mysteries still unknown on this planet: what other creatures live in the ocean, what is undiscovered in the rainforest, what parts of civilization have we forgotten, and what's Taco Bell's meat made out of? These are all things we need to know, but what is often forgotten is what's at our North and South poles. Those frozen landscapes have thick ice, but what is at the bottom of that ice? Could there be life under that ice that has been isolated for millions of years? Maybe.

Where do Antarctica animals live? Seal lovers have given Antarctica the seal of approval because six species of seals live in the waters and on the frozen continent. The fiercest are leopard seals, which eat seafood but sometimes prefer to eat penguins and other seals. The biggest seals are bull southern elephant seals, which can grow up to 20 feet long. When challnging other males, the bulls inflate their large noses to make their bellows louder and scarier. Elephant seals, going almost 5,000 feet deep and staying under for as long as two hours. Many whales make their summer home in the waters of the southern ocean. Blue whales are not only the largest of the baleen whales but also

An albedo is light that is reflected by a surface, in this case, the Earth’s. The higher the albedo, the more sunlight is reflected and the less sunlight is absorbed. An albedo is caused by the unequal heating of the Earth's’ surface. An example of this is Antarctica. There, the average temperature in the winter can get down to -48°C. The extremely low temperature is due to the white snow and ice, which reflect the light back into the atmosphere and keep Antarctica cool. Albedo varies from differing surfaces, which means those surfaces have varying temperatures. Different albedos on different surfaces can be based on multiple factors, including the color, location, and material of the surface. A surface that is lighter in color will have a

Climate change is a problem in the world today. Climate change is destroying Antarctica, endangering hundreds of millions of lives, and can be effectively reduced by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) has experienced an accelerated ice loss over the past two decades and thus has been contributing to sea level rise (Joughin and Alley 2011; Rignot et al. 2008). Its total loss would raise global sea level by more than 3 meters (Bamber et al. 2009). Much of the grounded ice of the WAIS rests on a bedrock well below sea level, which is a major factor of instability (Joughin and Alley 2011). The rate of WAIS ice loss to the ocean is reduced by the presence of extensive ice shelves along the coast. However, in response to atmospheric and oceanic warming, West Antarctic ice shelves have recently undergone thinning and retreat, especially around the Antarctic Peninsula (Trusel et al. 2015). Surface melting occurring

Deep in the Arctic a mother polar is returning from a long, hard day of

It has played a significant role in the rise of the global sea level. It is predicted that at this rate, the glacier will alone increase the sea level by another centimetre in the next 20 years. The thinning of the ice in West Antarctica contributes to 10% of the rise in the sea level today. The most recent acceleration has been monotonic. The warm water flows above the marine ridge which results in melting of the thick ice which comes out of