Is the southpole ice cap increasing in thickness?

Question

I am asking this, because I did a quick google search after reading "State of fear", here is the search

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=antarctica+ice+thickening&spell=1

Answer 1

The center of of the ice cap -- near the pole -- is getting thicker while the periphery is disintegrating. Huge sheets of ice the size of small countries have been breaking offf. The increasing thickness was explained in wikipedia:

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_ice_sheet

Recent satellite data reported by NASA shows evidence that the total amount of ice in Antarctica has increased in the past few decades. This is significant because there is a large amount of ice in the area and some climate models predicting global warming also predict that some of the most severe warming would occur in Antarctica. This melting ice would raise sea levels significantly [3]. On the other hand, a warming climate in the southern hemisphere would transport more moisture to Antarctica so the ice sheet would in fact grow and somewhat counteract rising sea levels.[4]


But don't think the world is safe.....


From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Antarctic_Ice_Sheet

Parts of the Antarctic ice sheet that rest on bedrock below sea level have begun to discharge ice fast enough to make a significant contribution to sea level rise. Understanding the reason for this change is urgent in order to be able to predict how much ice may ultimately be discharged and over what timescale. Current computer models do not include the effect of liquid water on ice sheet sliding and flow, and so provide only conservative estimates of future behaviour." [4]

Jim Hansen, a senior NASA scientist who is a leading climate adviser to the US government, said the results were deeply worrying. "Once a sheet starts to disintegrate, it can reach a tipping point beyond which break-up is explosively rapid," he said.

In Greenland, the picture is quite different. The ice balance has been significantly negative for the last few years.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Antarctic_Ice_Sheet

In October 2006, NASA reported that Greenland's low coastal regions lost 155 gigatons (41 cubic miles) of ice per year between 2003 and 2005 from melting and icebergs, while the high-elevation interior gained 54 gigatons (14 cubic miles) annually from snowfall. Lead author Scott Luthcke of NASA Goddard's Planetary Geodynamics Laboratory said that "In the 1990's the ice was very close to balance with gains at about the same level as losses. That situation has now changed significantly ..."


What does that mean for Antarctica?

Once again, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Antarctic_Ice_Sheet

While models predict significant melting of the Greenland ice sheet as summer temperatures in the Arctic rise by 3C degrees to 5C (5.4F-9F), most models suggest that the ice sheets of Antarctica will remain more stable. However, historical data shows that the last time that Greenland became this warm, the sea level rise generated by meltwater destabilised the Antarctic ice. That means that the models of sea-level rise used to predict an increase of up to 3 feet by 2100 may have significantly underestimated its ultimate extent, which could be as great as 20 feet. [6]

Answer 2

Melting the Arctic ice cap, or the different ice that's floating, won't substitute sea stages. that's because of the fact something that floats displaces its own mass in water: while it melts, that's going to become water of the comparable quantity (and as a result mass) that it substitute into pushing out of ways while it floated. If the ice on land melted, then a extensive element of it may flow the oceans. Greenland ought to boost sea stages by employing 7m, and Antarctica by employing 70m. Wiki has some documents[a million]. this could be catastrophic; everywhere that's below 77m above sea point ought to be drowned, growing to be the biggest refugee disaster in worldwide historic previous. In all honesty, it would be sufficient to cripple our modern-day civilisation and bring about an extensive loss of existence toll. With much less land, there are fewer agricultural materials so there ought to be much less food and greater wars fought. in spite of the incontrovertible fact that, that's no longer likely. The East Antarctic ice sheet seems gaining mass from greater beneficial snowfall. West Antarctic is shrinking, and Greenland is possibly shrinking the main. The Arctic seems to be shrinking lots, a minimum of for the period of summer season, yet that isn't impression sea point upward push. regrettably, much less ice potential greater warming however, because of the fact ice is shiny and displays warmth far off from Earth, at an identical time as the land/sea below that's much less so. that's a probability that temperatures this century will set off the long term era give way of Greenland over centuries or millennia, yet sea point rises this century are projected to be below 2m, and that's a extreme estimate. modern-day expectancies are for in basic terms 1m![2].

Answer 3

No, all ice caps are decreasing due to global warming.

Answer 4

Thinning due to global warming...

Answer 5

no

Answer 6

no, its thinning