All-time record high temperature recorded at South Pole

[happyslug]

12. My point was the temperature at the pole is much less important then temperatures elsewhere

For example the West Antarctic Ice Sheet covers the area of Antarctica around the Antarctic Peninsula. That area has had temperatures ABOVE FREEZING. Thus the ice is MELTING and then refreezing at night. This is dangerous for two reasons, First is obvious, ice turn to water flows into the sea raising world sea levels, the Second is hidden and more dangerous. The ice melts and the water then seeps into cracks in the ice, re-freezes, and when water freezes it EXPANDS, thus putting pressure on the ice, which leads to cracks in the ice making the whole Ice Sheet Less Stable.

The point I was trying to make, and I admit I did it poorly, was to point out temperatures below freezing for the South Pole is of much less concern then the above freezing temperateness elsewhere on Antarctica.

The Antarctic Peninsula is in fact an island NOT a Peninsula, if you ignore the ice sheets that surround the Peninsula. Here is a map of Antarctica WITHOUT its ice, it clearly shows that the West Antarctic Ice Sheets are ice Sheets grounded BELOW Sea level:



http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Atlas_of_Antarctica

This is why the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is referred to the Godzilla of Global Warming, it is in direct contact with the Ocean, which can bring warmer water to act directly in the ice Sheets. This warming water can undermine these Ice Sheets and cause them to become Ice Shelves (The difference between Ice Sheets and Ice Shelves is Ice Sheets are grounded on LAND and thus displace only the water BELOW sea level, Ice Shelves, FLOAT on water and thus displace the same water as in the ice of the Ice Shelves.

In simple terms Ice Shelves can melt 100% away and have NO AFFECT on world wide ocean levels. On the other hand, Ice SHEETS (West Antarctic ice Sheet, East Antarctic Ice Sheet, Greenland Ice Sheet and the glaciers of the World) if they melt WILL RAISE GLOBAL OCEAN LEVELS (Greenland and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet about 4 Meters or about 20 feet each, the East Antarctic Ice sheet over 65 Meters).

The East Antarctic Ice Sheet is stable at the present time. It has very minimal contact with the Ocean (Anarchistic is the HIGHEST overall Continent on the planet. Asia and South American have taller mountains, but also lower low lands, i.e. The Amazon Basin and Siberia are MUCH LOWER then the Low lands of Antarctica, thus Antarctic wins the contest for overall height). This height makes the East Antarctic Ice Sheet Stable.

On the other hand the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is UNSTABLE for it is grounded BELOW SEA LEVEL, as you can tell by the above map of Antarctica which shows West Antarctica is nothing by a series if islands surrounded by water (if the Ice Sheets.did NOT exist). The Greenland Ice Sheet is also grounded ABOVE SEA LEVEL, thus is more stable then the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (Through the Greenland Ice Sheet has a huge section SOUTH of the Arctic Circle, unlike the West Antarctic Ice Sheet which is within the Antarctic Circle, thus Greenland Ice Sheet is subject to higher melting temperatures each year then the other Ice Sheets).

For these reasons the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is often called the Godzilla of Global Warming. Unlike the other two huge ice sheets, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could break up and float within a day raising global ocean levels 20 feet over night. Greenland and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet would take decades to melt for neither has direct contact with the ocean. Thus the area around the Antarctic Peninsular is where temperatures have to be watched, and right now, at the height of summer they are well over Freezing.