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Re: [Phys-L] just for fun



On 01/02/2014 07:19 PM, Folkerts, Timothy J wrote:
That would suggest that extra ice this year is not some anomalous
sheet blown in, but the typical conditions in the entire region this
year.

I assume y'all know it is midsummer in Antarctica right now.

Even in Antarctica, you don't suddenly grow massive build-ups of
ice in situ in the middle of summer. It's cold, but not cold
enough to suddenly convert open water into a ten-foot-thick
layer of ice.

I'm not making this stuff up. Here's a quote from The Guardian,
which had two reporters on the ship at the time:

The expedition was heading east on Tuesday, to spend a day at the
Mertz glacier, when it became trapped among thick ice floes stacked
up by bad weather near Stillwell Island, off the cape.

"The prevailing wind after we arrived built up into a very strong
south-easterly and that pushed the ice into our path, preventing our
exit into the clear water outside," Fogwill said. A strong westerly
wind would blow the pack ice out of the Shokalskiy's way within a
day, he said, but such a weather system was not predicted to occur
anytime soon, given prevailing conditions.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/27/chinese-ship-breaks-ice-antarctic-rescue-akademik-shokalskiy