Sentences with phrase «forcing glacier ice»

Forcing glacier ice over a resistant bed is an analogous problem, at least to the extent that both the bird and the glacier — usually an ice sheet — have to balance force against resistance.

Not exact matches

The two main forces that conspire to destroy Earth's massive polar ice sheets are heat, which melts their surfaces via sunlight and warm air, and gravity, which drives glaciers to slide to the sea.

The shelves slow and stabilize the glaciers behind them, but they are succumbing to a hidden force: Deep, warming ocean currents are melting the ice from beneath.

Once the ice shelf retreats to the grounding line, the buoyant force that used to offset glacier flow becomes negligible, and the glacier picks up speed on its way to the sea.

Glacier - ice shelf interactions: In a stable glacier - ice shelf system, the glacier's downhill movement is offset by the buoyant force of the water on the front of the shelf.

Sure, you can poke about at the terminal face of the glaciers by yourself... but to really get to know the massive forces and stunning beauty of the ice, take a hike on the Franz Josef Glacier with Franz Josef Glacier Guides or the Fox Glacier with Fox Glacier Guiding.

As the glacier / icefjord icebergs advance with a speed of over 30 m / day, any dam (how heavy it may be made) will be pushed away by the forces behind the ice front... Not to be forgotten the harsh winter freezing there...

The Arctic sea ice melting out above 75N would have almost no impact at all if that is the forcing change of glaciers down to Chicago and sea ice down to 45N (at lower latitudes where the Albedo has much more impact).

Here are some possible choices — in order of increasing sophistication: * All (or most) scientists agree (the principal Gore argument) * The 20th century is the warmest in 1000 years (the «hockeystick» argument) * Glaciers are melting, sea ice is shrinking, polar bears are in danger, etc * Correlation — both CO2 and temperature are increasing * Sea levels are rising * Models using both natural and human forcing accurately reproduce the detailed behavior of 20th century global temperature * Modeled and observed PATTERNS of temperature trends («fingerprints») of the past 30 years agree

The influence of anthropogenic forcing has also been detected in various physical systems over the last 50 years, including increases in global oceanic heat content, increases in sea level, shrinking of alpine glaciers, reductions in Arctic sea ice extent, and reductions in spring snow cover (Hegerl et al., 2007).

The lakes are prone to floods, typically caused when the mountain glaciers that feed them shed a chunk of ice and rock, forcing thousands of gallons over the banks.

The great weight of the continental glaciers during our last ice age, applied such great pressure that it forced meltwater to into the ground at much greater rates than currently observed recharge.

As you are aware sea level rise also has the effect of moving the grounding line proximally, which reduces the friction on the ice shelf or valley glacier without reducing the gravitational force which is driving the ice from the slopes beyond the coastal plain.

The study, which has not yet been peer reviewed, brings new importance to a feedback loop in the ocean near Antarctica that results in cooler freshwater from melting glaciers forcing warmer, saltier water underneath the ice sheets, speeding up the melting rate.

Both Polyakov and Vinje help confirm findings about glaciers, which tell us that Earth's melting ice trend operates on a millennium scale, driven by millennium - scale forces other than carbon dioxide (CO2), and driven concurrently by natural climate cycles that dominate carbon - dioxide forcing of temperature.

Also, the «response time» of glaciers reflect the past climate, but «teasing out the drivers of forces behind the observed changes, such as, shrinking of Quelccaya Ice Cap, are complex,» he says.

And older climate models did not include dynamic ice sheet vulnerabilities — like high latent - heat ocean water coming into contact with the submerged faces of sea - fronting glaciers, the ability of surface melt water to break up glaciers by pooling into cracks and forcing them apart (hydrofracturing), or the innate rigidity and frailty of steep ice cliffs which render them susceptible to rapid toppling.

In the case of the 100 kyr ice age cycles, that forcing is high northern latitude summer insolation driven by predictable changes in Earth's orbital and rotational parameters — aka, Milankovitch theory — which has the intial effect of melting glaciers, thereby reducing albedo at those latitudes.

Ian Howat Associate Professor, School of Earth Sciences, Ohio State University Head of Water, Climate, and Environment Division Specialties: Dynamics of glaciers and ice sheets and their rapid response to climate forcing

What is significant about this paper is that GHG forcing that is supposedly causing exponential, run - away warming, collapse of the polar ice sheets, retreat of the worlds glaciers, etc since around 1960 is not visible at all in the sea level record.

The researchers conclude: «Our findings imply that the outlet glaciers of Greenland, and the ice sheet as a whole, are probably more vulnerable to ocean thermal forcing and peripheral thinning than inferred previously from existing numerical ice sheet models.»

Radiative physics says doubling CO2 adds a lot more forcing to polar latitudes than the Milankovitch effect, but you demur on accepting that it is also important for the sea - ice and glacier balance and possibly that higher CO2 levels near 500 ppm could prevent the next Ice Aice and glacier balance and possibly that higher CO2 levels near 500 ppm could prevent the next Ice AIce Age.

This can be seen in the output of GCMs and one can also see why this is roughly the case since the time scale of decay should be approximately the amount of time it takes to melt a square meter of glacier ice with the forcing change that would result from a loss of a square meter of ice in polar regions.

Given the fact that we now measure i) a > 35 year warming in the atmosphere, ii) an unabated ~ 35 year increase in 0 - 2000 meter ocean heat content and iii) an shorter - term but accelerating melting of land ice (Greenland, Antarctica, glaciers), is there any possible mechanism that could explain such simultaneous warming in terms of natural variability in the absence of a net forcing?

``... the most profound contemporary changes to the ice sheets and their contribution to sea level rise can be attributed to ocean thermal forcing that is sustained over decades and may already have triggered a period of unstable glacier retreat.»

According to the article, deglaciation Transition III in the Vostok ice core started with the melting of Antarctic ice driven by some change in solar forcing, followed by an increase in global CO2, and then by the melting of Northern Hemisphere glaciers.

However, recent observations of the rate and severity of physical and ecological responses to escalating radiative forcing — melting glaciers and ice sheets resulting in sea level rise and major changes in weather patterns, prolonged droughts, more frequent hurricanes and storms, and so on — are surprising even top climate experts, and raising awareness that, as a nation, we are dangerously unprepared for the inevitable consequences.