Antarctic Ice Sheet getting Thicker From Underneath

[BethesdaWX]

Read through the various (Peer reviewed) studies posted on this WUWT link, I found it very interesting.

http://wattsupwithth...ath/#more-35458

[Clifford]

Read through the various (Peer reviewed) studies posted on this WUWT link, I found it very interesting.

http://wattsupwithth...ath/#more-35458

Interesting Stuff,

Here is some additional information about the phenomenon.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110303141551.htm

It is somewhat misleading as it doesn't mention a time period for the refreezing, much of which likely occurred during the last glacial period.

It says nothing about the current ice balance.

Keep in mind, for these very thick ice sheets... it likely takes centuries for an temperature change to travel from top to bottom. I'd love to see an actual direct measured temperature profile (thermometer measurements), top to bottom of the Vostok ice core, or other ice cores, but haven't been able to find one.

It will be interesting to see if they determine whether the lakes were existing at the time of initial glaciation of Antarctica, frozen with a layer of ice, then slowly thickened over time, or whether they were from glacier melt as likely regularly occurs during interglacial periods with less cooling from the top to maintain the integrity of the glaciers, and to counteract the thermal radiation of earth's core heat.

Perhaps if they get ice cores, salinity and trapped organisms will give some clues as to the origins of the lake ice, and hopefully something will indicate a time profile.

[WeatherRusty]

The Antarctic Ice Sheet is a very stable feature of Earth's climate. It has existed as a permanent feature of climate for better than the past 30 million years. The arctic ice on the other hand has been a semi-permanent feature for only the past 3 million years. The arctic ice is a much less stable condition.