The research, reported in Geophysical Research Letters, showed that last winter
the average thickness of sea ice over the whole Arctic fell by 26 cm (10 %) compared with the average thickness of the previous five winters, but sea ice in the western Arctic lost around 49 cm of thickness.
Last winter
the average thickness of sea ice over the whole Arctic fell by 26 cm (10 %) compared with the average thickness of the previous five winters, but sea ice in the western Arctic lost around 49 cm of thickness.
Not exact matches
With a volume
of more than 700,000 cubic miles and an
average thickness of 4,000 feet, the West Antarctic
Ice Sheet (WAIS) holds enough water to raise sea levels by 15 to 20 feet — and it is already sweating off 130 billion tons of ice per ye
Ice Sheet (WAIS) holds enough water to raise
sea levels by 15 to 20 feet — and it is already sweating off 130 billion tons
of ice per ye
ice per year.
Rising polar temperatures caused the
average thickness of winter Arctic
sea ice to decrease from about 12 feet to 6 feet between 1978 and 2008, and thinner
ice melts more readily.
% due to eruption 9.5 % (assuming the
average thickness of melted
ice was 1 meter, and not allowing for any
of the heat being lost to warming the 4 km thick
sea water column, or air, or evaporation)
Having said that, it is a really small effect — if the entire Arctic summer
sea ice pack melted (
average thickness 2 metres, density ~ 920 kg / m3, area 3 × 10 ^ 6 km ^ 2 (0.8 % total ocean area) = > a 4.5 cm rise instantly which implies a global
sea level rise
of 0.36 mm.
The scientists have measured
average sea ice thickness to less than a meter in the area, and observed a late start
of the freeze up period.
On page 16 here: https://curryja.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/
sea-
ice-physical-processes.pdf There is the «Annual cycle
of net surface heat flux for various
ice thicknesses» Roughly interpolating the no
sea ice flux I got an
average of — 310 Wm2 over the course
of a year.
[Gallery: Vanishing Glaciers] «The
average thickness of the Arctic
sea ice cover is declining because it is rapidly losing its thick component, the multi-year
ice.
The time constants
of albedo feedback from melting N America snow cover are shorter than the albedo feedback from melting Arctic
sea ice, and the
sea ice is changing response as its
average thickness decreases, and the ratios
of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 year
ice area changes.
«Since the 1970's, temperatures at the earth's surface have warmed, Arctic
sea ice has decreased in
thickness, and now we know that the
average temperature
of the world's oceans has increased during this same time period.»