Ice

     This section contains articles about ice, arranged in 7 major groups: Ice Dynamics, Antarctica, Greenland, Other Glaciers, Combined Regions, Sea Ice, and Snow.  The many articles on permafrost and seabed methane hydrates are found in the Carbon+ Emissions section.

     Month and year follow each article's name.  PDF files are so marked, after month and date, some with authors noted.  Within sections, more recent files appear above older files.

    Diagrams are generally immediately below the summary articles from which they were taken.

     Several of the articles below point to faster changes observed in glaciers and ice sheets than models allow for.  That is, ice models need to be improved to account better for the processes identified.  The upshot is that ice loss generally occurs faster that models project.  This implies that sea level, during this century, will rise faster than most projections.

Ice melt, sea level rise & superstorms - paleoclimate data, climate modeling & modern observations show 2°C global warming is highly dangerous - Hansen 0715.pdf - 20 pp, abridgement of the peer-reviewed publication

The final published paper: http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/16/3761/2016/

The video discussion: https://youtu.be/JP-cRqCORc8

 Link to Hansen's web page, his Communications, etc.: http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/

Newspaper articles:

Gillis, New York Times: http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2016/Gillis. NewY orkTimes.22March2016.pdf

Urry, grist: http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2016/Grist.AmeliaUrry.22March2016.pdf

    Cold icemelt from Antarctica spreads out along the ocean surface.  That prevents the vertical mixing (warmer water to the top) there that has driven the great ocean circulation.  In Antarctica, the warmer water below the ice eats away at glaciers from underneath.  Cold icemelt from Greenland leads to shutdown of the Atlantic overturning circulation.
    Ice losses from Greenland and Antartica grow, modelled as exponentially, with doubling times of 10, 20, or 40 years.  Sea level rises non-linearly, 5-9 meters over 50 to 150 years.  This is simlar to what happened 120,000 years ago, when sea levels rose from 3-4 meters higher than today to about 9 meters higher, including 2-3 meters within several decades.  (For perspective, the sea level range (maximum - minimum) over the recent ice ages was about 125 meters.)

Section Map: Ice