Science a GoGo's Home Page Forums General Discussion Climate Change Forum Arctic Ice Cap

Can someone give me some information about the arctic ice cap?

- Does a polar ice cap contain only "old ice"? (That is, ice that has not melted in modern times)

- Is any part of the Arctic Icecap over land? Or is 100% of it over only sea water all year round?

The polar ice cap is a mixture of old and new ice. In the summer there is a substantial melt and new ice forms. That said ... while I haven't seen percentages ... I would expect that the majority of the ice is retained from previous years. So in answer to "only" the answer would be no.

Some of the polar ice is over land in that it covers islands. But generally speaking we refer to the arctic as being sea ice and the antarctic as being on continental land (even though part of it is ice shelfs floating on water).

I see now that Researchers are frantically collecting samples of Polar Cap Ice Cores...before they're gone forever.

We're too stupid to be allowed to go on living. We don't deserve a Planet like this. Let some "ET kine guys" (Hawai'ian Slang) come live here after we're gone

Sad to say I am inclined to agree.

I've little doubt that someday this planet is more likely to resemble that in the movie "Planet of the Apes" than to resemble that in any other sci-fi movie.

Some day in the far future of our world, an Archaeologist from another planet will become a laughing stock when he attempts to explain the Holocene Mass Extinction Event, something that we are experiencing right now. Previous Mass Extinctions have lasted anywhere from 1 to 20 million years. Ours started 25,000 years ago, and is just wrapping up now. Within 100 years 50% of Planet Earth's species will be extinct, and we won't be far behind them.
This Alien Archaeologist will present his findings, that 5,000,000 years before, a new species of ape evolved in Africa and quickly overwhemled the planet, wiping out other species wherever it went. This new species, the "Naked Simian", was capable, as were Orangutans and Chimpanzees, close cousins of the NS, of using tools and adapting its environment to suit its requirements. Virtually overnight the Dugout Canoe, the Stone Axe, the Thermo-nuclear Generator and the Internal Combustion Engine appeared on the scene. Compared to other Events, the Holocene Mass Extinction appears to have happened in a very short period of time. His collegues will undoubtedly ask, "what triggered the Event? A Gamma Ray Burst? Volcanism? Massive Techtonic Activity?" His answer will be met with great skepticism, he'll be called a charlatan, his career will be ruined, if he tries to tell tham that the Naked Simian pumped hydrocarbons from beneath the Earths surface, and burned them with seeming disregard to the obvious consequences. In short, the Naked Simian appears to have committed Mass Suicide.

That's good, Wolfman. Send it to Bush & Co.

Redewener wrote:

"That's good, Wolfman."

It's more than good. It sums up the history of humanity over the last 25,000 years in just two paragraphs. I'd disagree a little bit. The extinctions in Australia happened about 45,000 years ago but that's just nitpicking.

Too bad the shrub can't read.