MSC 220 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Ice Shelf, Sea Ice, Ice
13 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
Crysophere: components of earth composed of frozen water, area is important because snow and ice reflects sunlight, total mass is important because if all is melted then sea level will rise. Sea ice: ice and snow control albedo (percentage of sunlight reflected by earth surface) This is because fresh water is frozen, leaving salt behind. Accumulation of ice: accumulation is a slow process, takes place due to precipitation and deposition, under pressure snow is compacted into firm and then into ice. Movement of ice: under high pressure, ice behaves like plastic and flows, ice slowly creeps toward the edges of ice sheets, movement is lubricated by melting at the bottom and melted water running through moulins, process. Pressure is higher closer to the center. Pressure differences pushes ice outward away from center to edge. The top of ice sheets rides on top of the sliding lower layers.
