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{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2015}} |
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{{about|polar ice caps in general|Earth's ice cap|polar ice packs}} |
{{about|polar ice caps in general|Earth's ice cap|polar ice packs}} |
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{{redirect|Polar ice|the vodka|Polar Ice (vodka)}} |
{{redirect|Polar ice|the vodka|Polar Ice (vodka)}} |
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[[File:Mars, as seen by the Hubble Telescope.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Polar ice cap on [[Mars]], seen by the [[Hubble Telescope]]]] |
[[File:Mars, as seen by the Hubble Telescope.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Polar ice cap on [[Mars]], seen by the [[Hubble Telescope]]]] |
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==Earth== |
==Earth== |
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<gallery class="center" caption="" widths="150px" heights="150px"> |
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<gallery> |
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File:North pole september ice-pack 1978-2002.png|Extent of the Arctic sea-ice in September |
File:North pole september ice-pack 1978-2002.png|Extent of the Arctic sea-ice in September 1978–2002 |
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File:North pole february ice-pack 1978-2002.png|Extent of the Arctic sea-ice in February |
File:North pole february ice-pack 1978-2002.png|Extent of the Arctic sea-ice in February 1978–2002 |
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File:The Earth seen from Apollo 17.jpg|[[Earth]] as seen from [[Apollo 17]], with southern polar ice cap visible (courtesy [[NASA]]) |
File:The Earth seen from Apollo 17.jpg|[[Earth]] as seen from [[Apollo 17]], with southern polar ice cap visible (courtesy [[NASA]]) |
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</gallery> |
</gallery> |
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|title=NSIDC Arctic Sea Ice News Fall 2007 |
|title=NSIDC Arctic Sea Ice News Fall 2007 |
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|publisher=nsidc.org |
|publisher=nsidc.org |
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|accessdate= |
|accessdate=27 March 2008 |
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}} |
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</ref> |
</ref> |
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|title=Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis |
|title=Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis |
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|publisher=National Snow and Ice Data Center |
|publisher=National Snow and Ice Data Center |
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|accessdate=2010 |
|accessdate=9 May 2010 |
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|last= |
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</ref> |
</ref> |
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===South Pole=== |
===South Pole=== |
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{{See also|Climate of Antarctica}} |
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[[File:Antarctica 6400px from Blue Marble.jpg|thumb|200px|right|A satellite composite image of Antarctica]] |
[[File:Antarctica 6400px from Blue Marble.jpg|thumb|200px|right|A satellite composite image of Antarctica]] |
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The land mass of the Earth's [[south pole]], in [[Antarctica]], is covered by the [[Antarctic ice sheet]]. It covers an area of about 14. |
The land mass of the Earth's [[south pole]], in [[Antarctica]], is covered by the [[Antarctic ice sheet]]. It covers an area of about 14.6 million km<sup>2</sup> and contains between 25 and 30 million km<sup>3</sup> of ice. Around 70% of the [[fresh water]] on the Earth is held in this ice sheet. |
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Data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center shows that the sea ice coverage of Antarctica has a slightly positive trend over the last three decades (1979–2009).<ref> |
Data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center shows that the sea ice coverage of Antarctica has a slightly positive trend over the last three decades (1979–2009).<ref> |
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|title=State of the Cryosphere / Arctic and Antarctic Standardized Anomalies and Trends Jan 1979 - Jul 2009 |
|title=State of the Cryosphere / Arctic and Antarctic Standardized Anomalies and Trends Jan 1979 - Jul 2009 |
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|publisher=National Snow and Ice Data Center |
|publisher=National Snow and Ice Data Center |
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|accessdate= |
|accessdate=24 April 2010 |
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</ref> |
</ref> |
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===Historical cases=== |
=== Historical cases === |
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Over the past several decades Earth’s polar ice caps have gained |
Over the past several decades Earth’s polar ice caps have gained significant attention due to their alarming decrease in land and sea ice. [[NASA]] reports that sea ice in the [[Arctic]] has been declining at a rate of nine percent per decade for the past 30 years,<ref>{{cite web |last=Thompson|first=Elvia|title=Recent Warming of Arctic May Affect Worldwide Climate |url=http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2003/1023esuice.html |publisher=[[NASA]] |quote="Warming trends like those found in these studies could greatly affect ocean processes, which, in turn, impact Arctic and global climate." |accessdate=2 October 2012}}</ref> while [[Antarctica]] has been losing land ice mass at a rate of more than 100 cubic kilometers per year since 2002.<ref>{{cite web |title=Antarctic Ice Melt |url=http://ossfoundation.us/projects/environment/global-warming/antarctic-ice-melt |publisher=OSS Foundation |accessdate=22 October 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Is Antarctica Melting? |url=http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/20100108_Is_Antarctica_Melting.html |publisher=[[NASA]] |accessdate=22 October 2013}}</ref> |
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Due to |
Due to the ice caps current rate of decline, there have been many investigations and discoveries on glacier dynamics and their influence on the world’s climate. In the early 1950s, scientists and engineers from the US Army began drilling into polar ice caps for geological insight. These studies resulted in “nearly forty years of research experience and achievements in deep polar [[ice core]] drillings... and established the fundamental drilling technology for retrieving deep ice cores for climatologic archives.” <ref>{{cite journal|last=Langway|first=Chester|title=The history of early polar ice cores, Cold Regions Science and Technology|date=April 2008|volume=52|issue=2|pages=101–117}}</ref> Polar ice caps have been used to not only track current climate patterns, but also patterns over the past several thousands years due to traces of CO2 and CH4 found trapped in the ice. In the past decade, polar ice caps have shown their most rapid decline in size with no true sign of recovery.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2011/03/10/polar-ice-is-melting-more-faster-than-predicted/|title=Polar ice is melting more faster than predicted|publisher=The Watchers|accessdate=18 May 2015}}</ref> Josefino Comiso, a senior research scientist at NASA, found that the “rate of warming in the Arctic over the last 20 years is eight times the rate of warming over the last 100 years.”<ref>{{cite web |last=Thompson |first=Elvia |title=Recent Warming of Arctic May Affect Worldwide Climate |url=http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2003/1023esuice.html |publisher=[[NASA]] |accessdate=2 October 2012}}</ref> In September 2012, sea ice reached its smallest size ever. Journalist John Vidal stated that sea ice is "700,000 sq km below the previous minimum of 4.17m sq km set in 2007".<ref>{{cite news |last=Videl |first=John |title=Arctic Ice Shrinks 18% against Record, Sounding Climate Change Alarm Bells |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/sep/19/arctic-ice-shrinks |work=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |accessdate=3 October 2012 |date=19 September 2012}}</ref> In August 2013, Arctic sea ice extent averaged 6.09m km<sup>2</sup>, which represents 1.13 million km<sup>2</sup> below the 1981-2010 average for that month.<ref>National Snow and Ice Data Center [http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2013/09/a-real-hole-near-the-pole/ A real hole near the pole], 4 September 2012</ref> |
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==Mars== |
==Mars== |
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{{main|Planum Australe|Planum Boreum}} |
{{main|Planum Australe|Planum Boreum}} |
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[[File:Mars NPArea-PIA00161.jpg|right|200px|thumb|[[Mars]]'s north [[polar region]] with ice cap, composite of [[Viking 1]] orbiter images (Courtesy [[NASA]]/[[JPL]]-Caltech)]] |
[[File:Mars NPArea-PIA00161.jpg|right|200px|thumb|[[Mars]]'s north [[polar region]] with ice cap, composite of [[Viking 1]] orbiter images (Courtesy [[NASA]]/[[JPL]]-Caltech)]] |
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In addition to Earth, the planet [[Mars]] also has polar ice caps. They consist of primarily water-ice with a few percent dust.<ref>{{cite journal | title=North polar deposits of Mars: Extreme purity of the water ice | author=Grima, Cyril G.; Kofman, W.; Mouginot, J.; Phillips, R. J.; Herique, A.; Biccardi, D.; Seu, R.; Cutigni, M. | journal=Geophysical Research Letters | volume=36 | year=2009 | url=http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2009/2008GL036326.shtml | doi=10.1029/2008GL036326 | issue=3 }}</ref> Frozen carbon dioxide makes up a small permanent portion of the [[Planum Australe]] or the South Polar Layered Deposits. In both hemispheres a seasonal [[carbon dioxide]] frost deposits in the winter and [[sublimation (physics)|sublimes]] during the spring. |
In addition to Earth, the planet [[Mars]] also has polar ice caps. They consist of primarily water-ice with a few percent dust.<ref>{{cite journal | title=North polar deposits of Mars: Extreme purity of the water ice | author=Grima, Cyril G.; Kofman, W.; Mouginot, J.; Phillips, R. J.; Herique, A.; Biccardi, D.; Seu, R.; Cutigni, M. | journal=Geophysical Research Letters | volume=36 | year=2009 | url=http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2009/2008GL036326.shtml | doi=10.1029/2008GL036326 | issue=3 }}</ref> Frozen carbon dioxide makes up a small permanent portion of the [[Planum Australe]] or the South Polar Layered Deposits. In both hemispheres a seasonal [[carbon dioxide]] frost deposits in the winter and [[sublimation (physics)|sublimes]] during the spring.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2202788/NASA-believes-Mars-place-solar-carbon-dioxide-snow.html|title=The carbon dioxide SNOW on Mars: NASA believes Red Planet is only place in solar system with freak weather phenomenon|work=Daily Mail|accessdate=18 May 2015}}</ref> |
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Data collected in 2005 from NASA missions to Mars show that the southern residual ice cap undergoes sublimation inter-annually. The most widely accepted explanation is that fluctuations in the planet's orbit are causing the changes.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070228-mars-warming.html | title=Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says | first=Kate | last=Ravilious | work=[[National Geographic News]] | publisher=[[National Geographic Society]] | date= |
Data collected in 2005 from NASA missions to Mars show that the southern residual ice cap undergoes sublimation inter-annually. The most widely accepted explanation is that fluctuations in the planet's orbit are causing the changes.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070228-mars-warming.html | title=Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says | first=Kate | last=Ravilious | work=[[National Geographic News]] | publisher=[[National Geographic Society]] | date=28 February 2007 | accessdate=28 October 2008 }}</ref> |
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== Pluto == |
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On April 29, 2015, NASA stated that its [[New Horizons]] missions had discovered a possible polar ice cap on the dwarf planet [[Pluto]]. [[Deconvolution|Deconvoluted]] images transmitted from the probe showed a bright region at one pole which scientists stated may be an ice cap. Further information is expected when the probe passes closer to Pluto in July.<ref>{{Cite web|title = New Horizons Probe Snaps Possible Polar Ice Cap On Pluto|url = http://www.forbes.com/sites/bridaineparnell/2015/04/30/new-horizons-spots-possible-polar-ice-cap-on-pluto/|accessdate = 2015-05-20|first = Brid-Aine|last = Parnell|website = Forbes}}</ref> |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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==References== |
==References== |
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{{ |
{{reflist|30em}} |
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{{reflist}} |
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==External links== |
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* {{commons-inline}} |
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[[Category:Ice caps]] |
[[Category:Ice caps]] |