There was also a report by a British science team stating the 'sea ice' off East Antarctica was increasing. I stated it was because of the winds sweeping from high altitudes with very frigid temperatures that actually caused the increase in sea ice. It was not a 'hopeful' sign Earth was recovering, but, simply one of those phenomena that occur with degradation of the planet's ice reserves.
Well. Guess whom was correct? The added sea ice has nothing to do with a 'reversing trend' of global cooling, it had to due with 'melting glacial ice' in the 'dead of winter' in Antarctica. As the WATER ran across ice to the sea it cooled and took those far colder temperatures from the blue ice to the sea as fresh water and cooled enough to increase the sea ice.
Sea Ice Study Yields New Insights (click here)
Wednesday, 4 November, 2009 - 13:33
NZ scientists endured the dark polar winter to find what drives the dramatic growth of sea ice
A New Zealand scientific team has shed light on an important role of ice shelves around Antarctica. Initial results have shown for the first time that cold water melted from ice shelves enhances the dramatic growth of sea ice over winter. This mechanism potentially explains why Antarctic sea ice has not seen the same dramatic decline as Arctic sea ice.
The team from NIWA, Otago University, IRL, and Victoria University, was led in Antarctica by Dr Andy Mahoney (Otago University). They wintered at New Zealand's Scott Base from February - October, conducting surveys at two locations in McMurdo Sound.
They recently returned from their eight-month stint in Antarctica with prodigious amounts of scientific data....
Katabatic Winds Rake Antarctica's Terra Nova Bay (click title to entry - thank you)
Posted November 10, 2009
Just days away from the beginning of the Southern Hemisphere’s spring, Antarctica’s Inexpressible Island and the Northern Foothills Mountains were illuminated by a glimmer of sunlight from a low angle when the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured this image on September 16, 2009. The seaward slopes of the mountains are gleaming white, and they cast long shadows inland over the Nansen Ice Sheet. Terra Nova Bay appears in shadow.
The scene provides at least two indications of the bay’s persistent and fierce katabatic winds—downslope winds that blow from the interior of the ice sheet toward the coast. One is the windswept ground in the mountainous terrain. In many places, there is a pattern of bare rock and snow drifts that suggests the winds have scoured snow from upwind (inland-facing) slopes and deposited it on the lee sides....
