Could global warming make Antarctica habitable?
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i was reading about how the penguins create a bunch of weather in Antarctica with their fields of poop. It causes lots of snow storms because the ammonia and other components of the their waste, seed the moisture in the air to create weather patterns.
so they might be keeping chunks of Antarctica snow covered and they would have to be displaced before any real changes would happen. the ice melt wouldn't stop them from moving further inland
At least some penguin species need sea ice to breed, and Antarctic sea ice extent has dropped off a cliff in the last decade (a starting in 2016) (source: went to a plenary about sea ice at the AMOS conference in Aus at the end of June)
I think what ever happens in Antarctica, it's likely to be complex...
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At least some penguin species need sea ice to breed, and Antarctic sea ice extent has dropped off a cliff in the last decade (a starting in 2016) (source: went to a plenary about sea ice at the AMOS conference in Aus at the end of June)
I think what ever happens in Antarctica, it's likely to be complex...
the article I was referring to is in the latest science news
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/penguin-poop-climate-change-antarctica
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Not in a meaningful timeframe, I think. Even if we get a worst case outcome (say +5°C by 2100, ongoing warming), permanent land ice in Antarctica will likely take many hundreds, or even thousands of years to melt entirely.
It's always going to have frozen winters with lots of snow, due to the long dark polar winter.. I guess some boreal tundra species could survive that, but farming is probably unlikely to be viable, I would guess.
Earlier tonight I was watching a video going over sone climate predictions. There was a legit worst case scenario of an ice-free Arctic Ocean as early as 2030. Once one pole goes, it’s hard to see the other tensing frozen much longer
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Earlier tonight I was watching a video going over sone climate predictions. There was a legit worst case scenario of an ice-free Arctic Ocean as early as 2030. Once one pole goes, it’s hard to see the other tensing frozen much longer
Sea ice (most of the arctic) is VERY different to land ice (which is most of Antarctica). Check some sea ice maps and ice thickness maps to see the difference.
Also, the two hemispheres are not tightly coupled over short (decadal scales). The Arctic has been warming much faster than the Antarctic (so far).
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Reference: Once upon a time I built the equipment & housing reservation and booking system for the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium (BASC), who at the time managed all US and Russian research in the north (so other side, but some similar challenges).
You'd be surprised by some of the unique issues for modern life. Food is of course the obvious one, but there are super crazy ones. For instance, we could only issue Apple laptops, because they were the only ones who's screens wouldnt have pixel freeze in the field.
In any event, unlikely to be permanent inhabitants there unless the planet already wiped us out, in my uneducated opinion.
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Follow up question that I fear may shed top much light on how dumb I am... is there land under the polar ice caps? I guess I never thought about it but assumed they were just frozen masses.
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Follow up question that I fear may shed top much light on how dumb I am... is there land under the polar ice caps? I guess I never thought about it but assumed they were just frozen masses.
The artic (north pole) is just sea ice, so no land.
Antarctic (south pole) has a continent (Antarctica,) so land, but has a very think layer of ice over much it it. Due to the shape, there are also some areas that are just sea lice.
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The artic (north pole) is just sea ice, so no land.
Antarctic (south pole) has a continent (Antarctica,) so land, but has a very think layer of ice over much it it. Due to the shape, there are also some areas that are just sea lice.
some areas that are just sea lice.
Uh oh!
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some areas that are just sea lice.
Uh oh!
No one expects the sea lice illustration
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The artic (north pole) is just sea ice, so no land.
Antarctic (south pole) has a continent (Antarctica,) so land, but has a very think layer of ice over much it it. Due to the shape, there are also some areas that are just sea lice.
Very think layer indeed
