ATM S 111 Lecture 3: Ice and Snow

• School: UW
• Department: Atmospheric Sciences
• Course: ATM S 111
• Professor: Casey Cathlee Hilgenbrink

Document Summary

Ice and snow: the cryosphere, sea ice. Forms from frozen ocean water: not as same as icebergs, which break off of land ice. Floats on the ocean surface: grows over the winter, melts in the summer, arctic sea ice is typically 0. 5 to 3m thick, an exception is in pressure ridges which form when sea ice bumps into other sea ice. Sea ice averages: average sea ice in arctic and antarctic. Significant ice coverage in arctic summer: nearly all ice melts around antarctica in summer, recent summer arctic sea ice coverage is 40% lower than 30 years ago. Sea ice is key for polar bears to find food: they hunt for seals on the ice.