Monday, May 18, 2009
Change at the South Pole
This was until recently our science base at the South Pole. We built it back in 1975 to replace the original building finished in 1957 which had become completely covered and was being crushed by the weight of the accumulating snow and ice. Since that time more snow and ice has built up several meters and will within a few decades cover and crush our dome. In 2008, they finished up a new station that "floats" on the ice and snow, so it won't get covered up as the ice cap at the bottom of the World continues to grow.
You have probably heard the Warmie reports that the Antarctic ice cap is melting at a surprising rate. That's not the case. There have been in the past two decades some ice shelf breakups on the Antarctic Peninsula, but those were not direct melting and besides, the peninsula is only 2% of Antarctica. Perhaps another 10% of the other 98% is here and there breaking up usually from tidal forces and the infusion of ocean water. The remaining 88% is either not changing or it's growing.
It's really cold there all the time.
Labels: Global Warming; Antarctic Ice Cap
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 12:56 PM 
