Ice Formations And Global Warming
The role of global ice formations: how each interacts with climate systems as “normal” breaks down and feedback cycles become irreversible.
SEA ICE: disappearing rapidly, does not raise sea levels but does affect weather patterns.
LAND ICE: Trillions of tons of land ice contains enough fresh water to raise sea levels several meters
SHELF ICE: Hybrid formations are critical to braking flow of land ice to the ocean.
MOUNTAIN GLACIERS:
Sea Ice
Floating ice at both poles is has been melting rapidly for several decades now and the rate of increase appears to be increasing. There are two key consequences of this trend.
When free floating ice melts, it leaves open water, which absorbs solar energy. See Feedback Cycle #1.
The absence of sea ice also has significant impact on the Jet Stream and upper atmosphere wind patterns, changing long time weather models, especially in Europe.
Land Ice
There are trillions of tons of water locked up in the glaciers or ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland. There are several meters of potential sea level rise stored in trillions of tons of polar ice. It differs from sea ice in that it is fresh and adds new quantities of liquid to the seas.
However, the rapid loss of our two main ice caps has two major consequences:
Major (but not the only) contributor to sea level rise.
New fresh water dumped into the northern seas is slowing the AMOPC (Gulf Stream), which has a powerful effect on Europe’s weather.
Coastal Ice Shelves
Hybrid formations rest one end on land and the other floats in the coastal sea. These complex ice shelves hold back the trillions of tons of ice caps in Greenland and Antarctica
Over the past decade they have accelerated their collapse, with many breaking off chunks the size of states.
Of critical concerns is that they have been found be be melting below, as warming waters eat away their bases.
Mountain Glaciers
Glaciers are melting away in all mountain regions on the planet, including the Alps, the Andes and the Himalayas.
Beyond the sadness of incomparable beauty lost, glaciers provide fresh water sources for several billion humans, especially downstream from the Himalayas.
This global catastrophe is manifesting itself in two stages:
- Increase in mountain lakes and extreme flooding (glacier lake outbreak)
- Extreme drought and lack of fresh water on a massive scale, especially Asia.
Permafrost and Methane Release
Under the radar, under the permafrost, methane, CO2 and ancient viruses are lurking.
As the “perma” in permafrost melts away, a number of forces are in play, some obvious, some not.