Planet Earth Does Not "Lose" Ice

Breaking news: planet Earth does not "lose" ice or water.  Ice either melts into water and is stored in the oceans, lakes, rivers, atmosphere or underground reservoirs.  When ice is not melting, water is being added to glaciers as snow and ice.  This cycle of cooling and warming, melting and freezing, has been going on essentially since the creation of the Earth.  Note this has been going on longer and is controlled by forces far greater than humans burning fossil fuels.

Here is a summary of what is known as the Earth's Hydrologic Cycle, taken from this blog.  You can do a search of this blog and find much more.
Peter

The Earth's Hydrologic (Water) Cycle - Pete'sPlace

Jan 24, 2008

It seems a refresher course in the basics of the Earth's hydrologic cycle is in order. First of all, it needs to be understood that there is a finite, or relatively fixed amount of water on or in the Earth. This does not, has not, and can ...

http://petesplace-peter.blogspot.com/

Chilling Report: Earth Loses 300 Billion Tons of Ice Each Year

Takepart.com – 6 hrs ago

It is amazing to see because it feels so clearly out of place, but in some spots along Antarctica’s coast you can actually find hints of grass and other plant life—green evidence that in parts of the long-frozen continent the ice is thinning, and fast.

 

But just how much ice is being lost? A new, ten-year study conducted by Bristol University’s Glaciology Centre says that between Antarctica and Greenland, the answer is 300 billion tons a year.
That’s a lot of ice cubes.

In scientific terms, a decade makes for a short study; this one can’t forecast whether this kind of loss will sustain into the future. (Though reasoned experts believe it will and may even accelerate.) But if it continues at this pace, goodbye Miami, Hong Kong, New York City, etc., as well as the homes of hundreds of millions who live on estuaries, deltas, coral atolls and great city river basins around the globe.

The two massive ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica combined—the ice in Antarctica is three miles thick at some places—contain 99.5 percent of the earth’s glacier ice. If it were all to melt (which would admittedly take centuries), sea levels would rise by 500 to 600 feet.

I’ve been to Antarctica on a couple dozen different trips, mostly along it’s long, skinny Peninsula, which because it is surrounded by warming ocean on both sides is the area most-impacted by the planet’s changing climate. It’s there each austral summer that more shorelines are exposed thanks to disappearing ice, and where you find hints of plant life. (How did the seeds get there? Most likely hitchhiking on fishing boats and visiting tourist ships, both growing in numbers.)

Another satellite study, conducted over the past 20 years by NASA and the European Space Agency, confirms the Bristol study, reporting that the planet’s ice sheets have melted faster in the last 20 years than in the last 10,000.

According to this study, melting ice from both poles has been responsible for a fifth of the global rise in sea levels since 1992. The rest was caused by the thermal expansion of the warming ocean, the melting of mountain glaciers, small Arctic ice caps and groundwater mining. The share of the polar ice melt, however, is rising and most concerning.

When it comes to Antarctica, though, it can be tricky to generalize. It is a huge continent; the U.S. could easily fit inside its borders. In the huge area of East Antarctica, where the ice is mostly above sea level, the air temperature is also much lower, and the experts do not expect the ice to melt on account of rising temperatures. In this part of Antarctica, the ice sheet is actually growing as a consequence of increased snowfall.

But today, using a variety of satellite reports and on-the-ice studies that have been going on for many decades, even conservative scientists say sea levels are rising 60 percent faster than what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted in 2007.

USGS Website On Glaciers And Climate Change

Here is an excellent website created by the USGS (United States Geological Survey). It illustrates and explains the basics about glaciers, their history, and how they respond and relate to the Earth's changes in climate. In trying to understand all of the concern over global warming, this website is a good place to learn what we do know about glaciers and climate change from past history. This way we can put current events in perspective and hopefully be better able to separate fact from fiction, or reality from global warming alarmist hype.
Peter

Glaciers and Climate Change
January 13, 2009 USGS (source)

The USGS has a website that illustrates how Earth’s glaciers and landscapes are responding to climate change. The site focuses on the glaciers of Alaska.

For example, some interesting facts about glaciers and sea level:

Glaciers and Sea Level
Grinnell Glacier in Glacier National Park, Montana; photograph by Carl H. Key, USGS, in 1981. The glacier has been retreating rapidly since the early 1900's. The arrows point to the former extent of the glacier in 1850, 1937, and 1968. Mountain glaciers are excellent monitors of climate change; the worldwide shrinkage of mountain glaciers is thought to be caused by a combination of a temperature increase from the Little Ice Age, which ended in the latter half of the 19th century, and increased greenhouse-gas emissions.

Worldwide, most mountain glaciers have been retreating since the end of the "Little Ice Age". Although this date varies from region to region, in most locations, retreat was underway by the late 1800s. As a consequence of glacier meltwater entering the global ocean, global sea level has risen about 30 centimeters (about one foot). Glaciers vary in size in response to changes in global and regional climate.

Sea-level changes, especially in densely populated, low-lying coastal areas and on islands, have significant effects on human activities and facilities. The present volume of the Earth’s glacier ice, if totally melted, represents about 80 meters in potential sea-level rise.

If all of Alaska's glaciers melted, sea level would rise ~ 0.05 meters (about 0.16 feet).

If all of Earth's temperate glaciers melted, sea level would rise ~ 0.3 meters (about one foot).

If all of Greenland's glaciers melted, sea level would rise ~ 6 meters (about 19.7 feet).

If all of Antarctica's glaciers melted, sea level would rise ~ 73 meters (about 240 feet).

The geologic record documents that glaciers have existed on Earth for billions of years. During that time, glaciers have repeatedly expanded and shrunk in response to changes in global and regional climate. During glacial stages (ice ages), periods of time dominated by colder climate, global sea level was lowered by as much as 200 meters. This is the result of water evaporating from the oceans being precipitated as snow and frozen into continental scale glaciers.

About 21,000 years ago, during the last glacial maximum (LGM), sea level was about 125 meters (about 410 feet) lower than it is today.

About 125,000 years ago, during a warmer climatic interval in the last interglacial stage, sea level was about 6 meters (about 19.7 feet) higher than it is today.

About 2.2 million years ago, during an even warmer inter­val, sea level is estimated to have been 25 to 50 meters (about 82 to 164 feet) higher.

Less than 20,000 years ago, during the last phase of the Pleistocene, the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), glaciers covered: ~ 8 % of Earth's surface ~ 25 % of Earth's land area ~ 30% of Alaska.

Following the LGM (beginning ~ 15,000 yr B.P.), continental glaciers retreated and sea level began to rise. By ~ 6,000 yr B.P. sea level reached its current height. It has fluctuated ever since.
Today, glaciers cover: ~ 3.1 % of Earth's surface, ~ 10.7 % of Earth's land area ~ 5 % of Alaska.

For more information visit the USGS Web site Sea Level and Climate.