A rare occurrence, where I'm going to disagree with you, Michael. East greenland is also showing melt/glacier acceleration (okay, it's still coastal, and a long way from the pack, so I'm nitpicking. I was also along lines that William seems to have picked up on; given the dynamic nature of the subsurface and the effect of wind on ice movement, if the 'central pack' is no longer anchored to the land, even for a few weeks, we might see all sorts of consequences; another Fram outflux of pack ice; acceleration of the Beaufort gyre, or an enhancement of the AO are all possible side-effects... Respectfully.
On Aug 10, 4:40 pm, "Michael Tobis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Essentially none; this is sea ice, not an ice shelf; the compositions > may be similar but the mechanics are very different, which in a sense > is the same point William was making. > > Sea ice is essentially a film formed from and floating on the ocean. > Its mechanical properties are complex, but around the edges it behaves > more like a viscous fluid than like a solid. Whether it is adjacent to > land or not does not matter. > > The geometry of ice shelves, which are mechanically part of > gravity-driven glacial flow, is much more crucial. > > The main physical issue about sea ice (leaving aside biology and > chemistry where you'll have to ask someone else) is albedo feedback. > > mt > > On 8/10/07, Fergus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > I'm interested to know what the precedent is for the indicated > > thinning N. of Greenland and Ellesmere; I've mentioned this on RC, but > > nobody seems to have noticed. Are we in a position where we can expect > > the entire ice sheet to detach from all land links? What implications, > > if any, might this have? > > > :) > > > On Aug 10, 2:26 pm, William M Connolley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On Fri, 10 Aug 2007, Eric Swanson wrote: > > > > As the sea-ice extent declines, it's thickness also decreases. I > > > > think it's likely that the thickness will decline so much that there > > > > will be the chance of a mechanical failure, even before the extent > > > > could actually reaches zero. The result could look much like the > > > > breakup of the Larson B ice shelf along the Antarctic Peninsula, which > > > > was sudden and spectacular . > > > > This is unlikely. Sea ice has essentially no strength in tension anyway. > > > > -W. > > > > William M Connolley | [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > |http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/met/wmc/ > > > Climate Modeller, British Antarctic Survey |07985 935400 > > > > -- > > > This message (and any attachments) is for the recipient only. NERC is > > > subject > > > to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the contents of this email and > > > any > > > reply you make may be disclosed by NERC unless it is exempt from release > > > under > > > the Act. Any material supplied to NERC may be stored in an electronic > > > records management system. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Global Change ("globalchange") newsgroup. Global Change is a public, moderated venue for discussion of science, technology, economics and policy dimensions of global environmental change. Posts will be admitted to the list if and only if any moderator finds the submission to be constructive and/or interesting, on topic, and not gratuitously rude. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalchange -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
