Dynamics of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

Dynamics of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet
Author: C.J. van der Veen
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9400937458

Few scientists doubt the prediction that the antropogenic release of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will lead to some warming of the earth's climate. So there is good reason to investigate the possible effects of such a warming, in dependence of geographical and social economic setting. Many bodies, governmental or not, have organized meetings and issued reports in which the carbon dioxide problem is defined, reviewed, and possible threats assessed. The rate at which such reports are produced still increases. However, while more and more people are getting involved in the 'carbon dioxide business', the number of investigators working on the basic problems grows, in our view, too slowly. Many fundamental questions are still not answered in a satisfactory way, and the carbon dioxide building rests on a few thin pillars. One such fundamental question concerns the change in sea level associated with a climatic warming of a few degrees. A number of processes can be listed that could all lead to changes of the order of tens of centimeters (e. g. thermal expansion, change in mass balance of glaciers and ice sheets). But the picture of the carbon dioxide problem has frequently be made more dramatic by suggesting that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is unstable, implying a certain probability of a 5 m higher sea-level stand within a few centuries.

Antarctic Climate Evolution

Antarctic Climate Evolution
Author: Fabio Florindo
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 606
Release: 2008-10-10
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0080931618

Antarctic Climate Evolution is the first book dedicated to furthering knowledge on the evolution of the world's largest ice sheet over its ~34 million year history. This volume provides the latest information on subjects ranging from terrestrial and marine geology to sedimentology and glacier geophysics. - An overview of Antarctic climate change, analyzing historical, present-day and future developments - Contributions from leading experts and scholars from around the world - Informs and updates climate change scientists and experts in related areas of study

Chemical Profile of the Ross Ice Shelf at Little America V, Antarctica

Chemical Profile of the Ross Ice Shelf at Little America V, Antarctica
Author: Chester C. Langway
Publisher:
Total Pages: 20
Release: 1974
Genre: Antarctica
ISBN:

Measurements of the concentrations of Na(+), K(+), Mg(2+), and Ca(2+) were made on 28 samples from the 255-m-deep ice core from Little America V. All concentrations decrease sharply with depth from the firn-ice transition at 52 m to somewhere between 125 m and 150 m. From 150 m to 250 m the cationic concentrations are relatively constant. This is interpreted to indicate that the ice above 125 m fell as snow on the Ross Ice Shelf and that ice below 150 m originated inland on Marie Byrd Land. (Author).

Polar Environments and Global Change

Polar Environments and Global Change
Author: Roger G. Barry
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 445
Release: 2018-08-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108423167

Surveys atmospheric, oceanic and cryospheric processes, present and past conditions, and changes in polar environments.

Glacial Sedimentary Processes and Products

Glacial Sedimentary Processes and Products
Author: Michael J. Hambrey
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Total Pages: 432
Release: 2007
Genre: Science
ISBN:

""The wide range of time periods, methods and concepts discussed should be of interest across many subject areas ... A wide mix of research published in this volume."" (Holocene, December 2008).

Ice Sheets and Climate

Ice Sheets and Climate
Author: Johannes Oerlemans
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9400963254

Climate modelling is a field in rapid development, and the fltudy of cryospheric processes has become an important part of it. On smaller time scales, the effect of snow cover and sea ice on the atmospheric circulation is of concern for long-range weather forecasting. Thinking in decades or centuries, the effect of a C02 climatic warming on the present-day ice sheets, and the resulting changes in global sea level, has drawn a lot of attention. In particular, the dynamics of marine ice sheets (ice sheets on a bed that would be below sea level after removal of ice and full isostatic rebound) is a subject of continuous research. This interest stems from the fact that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is a marine ice sheet which, according to some workers, may be close to a complete collapse. The Pleistocene ice ages, or glacial cycles, are best characterized by total ice volume on earth, indicating that on 4 5 large time scales (10 to 10 yr) ice sheets are a dominant component of the climate system. The enormous amount of paleoclimatic information obtained from deep-sea sediments in the last few decades has led to a complete revival of iriterest in the physical aspects of the Pleistocene climatic evolution.

Atlas of Submarine Glacial Landforms

Atlas of Submarine Glacial Landforms
Author: J.A. Dowdeswell
Publisher: Geological Society of London
Total Pages: 631
Release: 2016-12-16
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1786202689

New geophysical techniques (multibeam echo sounding and 3D seismics) have revolutionized high-resolution imaging of the modern seafloor and palaeo-shelf surfaces in Arctic and Antarctic waters, generating vast quantities of data and novel insights into sedimentary architecture and past environmental conditions. The Atlas of Submarine Glacial Landforms is a comprehensive and timely summary of the current state of knowledge of these high-latitude glacier-influenced systems. The Atlas presents over 180 contributions describing, illustrating and discussing the full variability of landforms found on the high-latitude glacier-influenced seafloor, from fjords and continental shelves to the continental slope, rise and deep-sea basins beyond. The distribution and geometry of these submarine landforms provide key information on past ice-sheet extent and the direction and nature of ice flow and dynamics. The papers discuss individual seafloor landforms, landform assemblages and entire landsystems from relatively mild to extreme glacimarine climatic settings and on timescales from the modern margins of tidewater glaciers, through Quaternary examples to ancient glaciations in the Late Ordovician.