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http://www.awi.de/en/news/press_release ... bbd97480fe





“The new elevation maps are snapshots of the current state of the ice sheets. The elevations are very accurate, to just a few metres in height, and cover close to 16 million km2 of the area of the ice sheets. This is 500,000 square kilometres more than any previous elevation model from altimetry”, says lead-author Dr. Veit Helm, glaciologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven.



For the new digital maps, the AWI scientists had evaluated all data by the CryoSat-2 altimeter SIRAL. Satellite altimeter measure the height of an ice sheet by sending radar or laser pulses in the direction of the earth. These signals are then reflected by the surface of the glaciers or the surrounding waters and are subsequently retrieved by the satellite. This way the scientists were able to precisely determine the elevation of single glaciers and to develop detailed maps.



On the basis of further CrysoSat-2 the scientists also documented how the elevation has changed over the 2011–2014 period. Ice sheets gain mass through snowfall and lose it due to melting and accelerating glaciers, which carry ice from the interior of the ice sheet to the ocean. “We need to understand where and to which extent the ice thickness across the glaciers has changed. Only then can we can analyse the drivers of these changes and find out how much ice sheets contribute to global sea level rise”, says Veit Helm.



The team derived the elevation change maps using over 200 million SIRAL data points for Antarctica and around 14.3 million data points for Greenland. The results reveal that Greenland alone is reducing in volume by about 375 cubic kilometres per year. “When we compare the current data with those from the ICESat satellite from the year 2009, the volume loss in Greenland has doubled since then. The loss of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has in the same time span increased by a factor of 3. Combined the two ice sheets are thinning at a rate of 500 cubic kilometres per year. That is the highest speed observed since altimetry satellite records began about 20 years ago,” says AWI glaciologist Prof. Dr. Angelika Humbert, another of the study’s authors.

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“Intellect is invisible to the man who has none”
Arthur Schopenhauer

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."
Albert Einstein

This again? Really?

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Potato chip enthusiast.

Yes, that again.

The results reveal that Greenland alone is reducing in volume by about 375 cubic kilometres per year. “When we compare the current data with those from the ICESat satellite from the year 2009, the volume loss in Greenland has doubled since then. The loss of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has in the same time span increased by a factor of 3. Combined the two ice sheets are thinning at a rate of 500 cubic kilometres per year. That is the highest speed observed since altimetry satellite records began about 20 years ago,” says AWI glaciologist Prof. Dr. Angelika Humbert, another of the study’s authors.

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With friends like Guido, you will not have enemies for long.

“Intellect is invisible to the man who has none”
Arthur Schopenhauer

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."
Albert Einstein

One cubic kilometer is equal to about 264 billion gallons of water.

The two major sheets are losing about 500 cubic kilometers per year.

Thus, there is 132,000,000,000,000 gallons of water being added to the oceans every year.

That by itself is ~1.4 mm per year in sea level rise.

_________________
With friends like Guido, you will not have enemies for long.

“Intellect is invisible to the man who has none”
Arthur Schopenhauer

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."
Albert Einstein

Todays temps. Yes, ice melting everywhere.

http://amrc.ssec.wisc.edu/data/view-dat ... ot/TAC.GIF

And, in the northern hemisphere.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/08/23/c ... t-30-days/

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Potato chip enthusiast.

You post this crap not understanding what it is you are trying to talk about? How does this attempt at misdirection counter the MEASUREMENTS showing the loss of ice mass in the Antarctic and Greenland?

The temperatures in the US means NOTHING outside of the US and certainly not to Greenland or Antarctica.

I would say that being clueless can be corrected with education but Milton wants to spread these lies so he is acting wilfully.

_________________
With friends like Guido, you will not have enemies for long.

“Intellect is invisible to the man who has none”
Arthur Schopenhauer

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."
Albert Einstein

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sublimatio ... transition)

Water

Snow and ice sublime, although more slowly, at temperatures below the freezing/melting point temperature line at 0 °C for most pressures; see line below triple point.[1] In freeze-drying, the material to be dehydrated is frozen and its water is allowed to sublime under reduced pressure or vacuum. The loss of snow from asnowfield during a cold spell is often caused by sunshine acting directly on the upper layers of the snow. Ablation is a process that includes sublimation and erosive wear of glacier ice.

_________________
With friends like Guido, you will not have enemies for long.

“Intellect is invisible to the man who has none”
Arthur Schopenhauer

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."
Albert Einstein

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... E-now.html





Well, with these results surely the NASA funds are sure to dry up. Can't be supporting such heresy.

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Potato chip enthusiast.

The Arctic SEA ICE, which does melt and freeze to an extenet every year is not related to the GLACIER ice being discussed in the thread. Sea ice has little is any impact on sea level. The only way it can have any effect is to freeze to the ocean floor because if it is floating the mass displacement is the same as the water addition.

The second highest level in 8 years is so impressive I could almost be convinced to ignore all of the other errors in the post ..... not really.

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With friends like Guido, you will not have enemies for long.

“Intellect is invisible to the man who has none”
Arthur Schopenhauer

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."
Albert Einstein

I'm so distressed. Wayne doesn't like the last one. How about this one?

http://www.c3headlines.com/2014/08/anta ... obama.html

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Potato chip enthusiast.

Sorry, I have a low tolerance for ignorance at times, especially when it is combined with a willful attempt to mislead. It has to be willful because the information is posted in this thread that indicates the ice sheets are shrinking in mass, the temperature does not have to be above freezing to have such a loss, and you have ignored it.

Can you explain in any fashion how this study in any way indicates there is no ice loss in Antarctica as the original study posted in this thread clearly evidensed? Of course you cannot, because it is nothing but a deflection attempt similar to posting the US temperature trends. Again you are either too ignorant of the science to understand or you are willfully trying to mislead others who may not be educate sufficiently on the subject and may be fooled by something that sounds like it has a critical connection.

_________________
With friends like Guido, you will not have enemies for long.

“Intellect is invisible to the man who has none”
Arthur Schopenhauer

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."
Albert Einstein

Since Milton has been posting defelections, perhaps I should point out the misrepresentations in what has posted. The point 2 years ago, from which Milton is touting such an increase was the lowest Arctic sea ice extent on record. The trend continues, but the cherry picking of data to compare also seems to continue. Too bad there is such dishonesty, but one cannot dispute the science without becoming more dishonest over time because the data supports the conclusions science makes.


http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/

Sea ice declined at slightly slower than average rates through the first part of August. By mid-August, extent was similar to this time last year, which makes it unlikely that this year’s minimum extent will approach the record low level observed in September 2012. On August 17, sea ice extent was 1.03 million square kilometers (398,000 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 long-term average and 1.42 million square kilometers (548,000 square miles) above that observed in 2012 on the same date.

_________________
With friends like Guido, you will not have enemies for long.

“Intellect is invisible to the man who has none”
Arthur Schopenhauer

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."
Albert Einstein