Antarctica Is Losing So Much Mass That It’s Actually Changing Earth’s Gravity

[Lakhota]

Antarctica is famously a continent capped with ice, but as Earth’s climate changes and the polar regions get warmer, its ancient ice is beginning to melt. The immediate consequence of the melting is the growing instability of ice shelves, places where the ice covering extends into the ocean. However, if we really want to know how quickly Antarctica is losing ice, we need a way of measuring that loss in terms of total mass.

In that mission, scientists are aided by gravity. As Antarctic ice melts, it shifts mass from the continent into the oceans, slightly changing Earth’s gravitational field in that part of the world. We wouldn’t notice it, but orbiting observatories like the Gravity Field and Steady State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE, which is more an abbreviation than acronym) can measure small fluctuations in gravity compared with other spots on our planet.

Data from GOCE and the twin Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) probes show that Antarctica is losing ice at a scary rate, as reported inGeophysical Research Letters. Between 2009 and 2012, the years for which GOCE was taking data, the amount of gravity in Antarctica decreased noticeably, corresponding to a lot of ice melt.

From the point of view of artificial satellites or the Moon, Earth’s gravity is mostly a steady influence, a tug that doesn’t particularly depend on where the satellite is over Earth’s surface. However, mass is the source of gravity, so if the crust is thicker in one place than another—say, the Himalayas vs. the floor of the Atlantic Ocean—the thicker part will exert a slightly higher gravitational pull.

As a result, a satellite passing over a higher-mass region would speed up very slightly, and slow down over a lower-mass one. Gravitational fluctuations from place to place over the whole Earth are represented by a hypothetical map of ocean levels known as the geoid, and it shows a lot about the hidden internal structure of our planet. However, as data from GRACE showed, it’s also possible to map changes in gravity over time. Many geological processes, such as plate tectonics, are too slow for satellites to see, but unfortunately climate change isn’t one of those.

GRACE consists of two satellites that chase each other around the planet. By measuring the relative positions and speeds of each satellite, researchers can reconstruct Earth’s gravitational field in both space and time as the probes accelerate. Researchers with GRACE found they could see a noticeable decrease in the gravity from Antarctica even over a span of just a few years.

But the probes map the gravitational field along North-South line, which makes the data look stripy. That’s where GOCE comes in: that satellite had three acceleration meters that let it take gravitational measurements in all directions. While GOCE by itself isn’t good enough to measure fluctuations due to ice melting, the combination of GOCE and GRACE eliminates the shortcomings of both. To paraphrase the renegade philosopher Hannibal, I love it when science comes together.

As someone who researched gravity in graduate school (though more things likeblack holes than the Earth geoid), I find the fact that we can measure ice loss using gravitational satellites really fascinating even as I’m disturbed by what we discover. But that’s exactly why we do science of this kind: we have to understand the magnitude of the problem. Just as science is a shared endeavor that benefits all of us, climate change will damage all of us — and it will take all of us working together to make sure satellites like GOCE and GRACE aren’t just measuring the magnitude of disaster.

More: Glaciers Lose 204 Billion Tons of Ice in Three Years - The Daily Beast

Just ignoring the problem won't make it go away.

 

[alan1]

The earth spins, but not perfectly symmetrical. There is a bit of wobble to the spin. Putting too much weight on the earth poles enhances the wobble. If too much weight gathers at the poles, eventually that wobble could throw the earth off of its axis.
That would be a bad thing.
Melting ice at the poles might not be a bad thing. It's certainly a better possible alternative then throwing the earth off of its axis.

 

[Billy_Bob]

Ok ghostbuster.... what ya gonna do? I noticed that none of the Grace measurements include solar magnetic fields and the earths Geophysical mechanisms.

And since this experiment ended in 2009 what has happened to those measurements now that the ice has tripled in size and weight?

 

[Billy_Bob]

The earth spins, but not perfectly symmetrical. There is a bit of wobble to the spin. Putting too much weight on the earth poles enhances the wobble. If too much weight gathers at the poles, eventually that wobble could throw the earth off of its axis.
That would be a bad thing.
Melting ice at the poles might not be a bad thing. It's certainly a better possible alternative then throwing the earth off of its axis.

How many times has the earth glaciated and no problem occurred?

 

[Luddly Neddite]

And the lame ass excuses start piling up.

 

[Billy_Bob]

And the lame ass excuses start piling up.

Now any increase in ICE will be blamed on Global Warming.... They keep going back before the stabilizing rebound started in hopes to keep the CAGW meme alive.. The only problem is the Earth and Sun are not cooperating.

 

[Tom Sweetnam]

Hey idiots, the earth's poles change polarity every 100,000 years or so. It's NATURAL. As to any "wobble", the earthquake that caused the Indian Ocean Tsunami also knocked the earth's axis out of whack by a fraction of a degree. It takes great tectonic forces to do something like that. That's NATURAL too, in spite of what all the warmy morons want to believe otherwise.

 

[alan1]

The earth spins, but not perfectly symmetrical. There is a bit of wobble to the spin. Putting too much weight on the earth poles enhances the wobble. If too much weight gathers at the poles, eventually that wobble could throw the earth off of its axis.
That would be a bad thing.
Melting ice at the poles might not be a bad thing. It's certainly a better possible alternative then throwing the earth off of its axis.

How many times has the earth glaciated and no problem occurred?

Before or after humans began recording history?
It is suspected by some that the biblical flood (re: Noah) was a result of the earth being thrown off of its axis.

 

[Billy_Bob]

Hey idiots, the earth's poles change polarity every 100,000 years or so. It's NATURAL. As to any "wobble", the earthquake that caused the Indian Ocean Tsunami also knocked the earth's axis out of whack by a fraction of a degree. It takes great tectonic forces to do something like that. That's NATURAL too, in spite of what all the warmy morons want to believe otherwise.

There are also minor changes to earths magnetic fields due to geophysical workings (magma movement in the mantle). I am having a hard time trying to determine how they ruled those changes out and claim it is all ice melting. SO far, I see no evidence they even explored that possibility.

 

[Billy_Bob]

The earth spins, but not perfectly symmetrical. There is a bit of wobble to the spin. Putting too much weight on the earth poles enhances the wobble. If too much weight gathers at the poles, eventually that wobble could throw the earth off of its axis.
That would be a bad thing.
Melting ice at the poles might not be a bad thing. It's certainly a better possible alternative then throwing the earth off of its axis.

How many times has the earth glaciated and no problem occurred?

Before or after humans began recording history?
It is suspected by some that the biblical flood (re: Noah) was a result of the earth being thrown off of its axis.

That is irrelevant. Many things could have caused the great flood.

The point is, the earth has glaciated and thawed thousands of times.. without mans help or catastrophic consequence. The pure ignorance of liberals who think they can somehow change what the earth is going to do. The arrogance coupled with that ignorance is what will kill millions.

 

[alan1]

Hey idiots, the earth's poles change polarity every 100,000 years or so. It's NATURAL. As to any "wobble", the earthquake that caused the Indian Ocean Tsunami also knocked the earth's axis out of whack by a fraction of a degree. It takes great tectonic forces to do something like that. That's NATURAL too, in spite of what all the warmy morons want to believe otherwise.

I've pretty much come to the conclusion that things like a massive earthquake, polarity change, large volcanic eruptions or meteor impacts have way more affect on the earth than simple human activity.

 

[Tom Sweetnam]

There are also minor changes to earths magnetic fields due to geophysical workings (magma movement in the mantle). I am having a hard time trying to determine how they ruled those changes out and claim it is all ice melting. SO far, I see no evidence they even explored that possibility.

They're morons. They have no grasp of the earth's geophysical dynamics nor of forces in the solar system (the sun's 11 year cycles of sunspots & flares for instance) that have a direct effect on what happens here on earth. They just believe any bullshit the marxist warmy lobby spoon-feeds them.

My father was a chief petroleum geophysicist for Phillips Petroleum Company who was involved in geophysical research all over the world for more than 30 years. He helped develop some of the first methods of satellite/airborne/seismographic substrate mapping ever used. A good friend of his was a geophysicist at USC who'd been nominated for a Nobel Prize for his work in plate tectonic research.

I sat in on at least a few dinner conversations between the two. I didn't understand most of the scientific banter, but one thing I took away for life, was an understanding that most earth sciences are new (we didn't even understand plate tectonics until the 1950's) , and that there is far more we don't understand than there is that we do understand. Not the blathering know-nothing marxists however. They've got it all figured out. Everything is black and white to them, and anyone who throws real empirical science in their faces is a "denier". Deniers of bullshit.

The warmy movement has nothing to do with empirical science and everything to do with a radical left-wing political agenda that wants to end industrial development, democracy, and free market capitalism. They're Stalinists pure and simple. They're motivated by evil, not by enlightenment or any degree of altruism. We let them get away with their screeching denials of real science at our own peril.

 

[mamooth]

Tom, Alan, Billy thanks for more fine illustrations of how every single denier here is a kook-right conspiracy theorist, endlessly wetting themselves over phantom communists. Denialism isn't the cult. Right-wing bedwetting is the cult. Denialism is just one of the required beliefs of that bedwetter cult. That cult only attracts the easily terrified crowd, playing on their fears to suck them in.

Remember deniers, you failing to understand the science doesn't make it wrong. You all stink at the science, in addition to failing hard at common sense. You can keep screaming your cult conspiracy dogma on message boards, but you'll still stink at the science, which is why nobody pays any attention to you. It's not a socialist conspiracy; you're just stupid.

 

[flacaltenn]

Science can be FRIGHTENING when children interpret it. Magnetometers are flown on the P3 Orion sub hunter planes. They find SUBMARINES by measuring perturbations in the Earth's magnetic field caused by that chunk of metal. No GRAVITY deficiency is present Lakhota that you need to worry about..

And the perturbations measured in Antarctica are probably SMALLER than a submarine for the equivalent amount of area..

 

[flacaltenn]

The average INTERIOR surface temp of Antarctica is about -25degC.
NOTHING is melting there.. There may be slight evaporation due to the fact that the continent is basically a desert and can be in "drought" for long periods of time. But all the rest is hype and supposition..

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Lakota, show us you're serious about combating Climate change and don't ever post here again. Your posts take energy to create, energy that requires burning fossil fuels that create CO2.

Take a stand against climate change and please shut the fuck up

 

[rdean]

Republicans think science is a faith. They pray they are right. But they have been wrong about nearly everything for the last 20 years. Republicans won't even try to identify something they have been right about.

 

[flacaltenn]

Republicans think science is a faith. They pray they are right. But they have been wrong about nearly everything for the last 20 years. Republicans won't even try to identify something they have been right about.

I know something Republicans can do right. They can predict EVERY ONE of your posts. If you ever actually PARTICIPATED in a thread about science or technology -- I'd probably be floored..

 

[Kosh]

CO2 Does not drive climate.

However when the Earth's magnetic field has decreased by 30% what would one expect, a cooler planet?

 

[Crick]

The average INTERIOR surface temp of Antarctica is about -25degC.
NOTHING is melting there.. There may be slight evaporation due to the fact that the continent is basically a desert and can be in "drought" for long periods of time. But all the rest is hype and supposition..

Given the nearly five-fold increase in the glacial flow rate of the major streams of WAIS, its doesn't really need to melt. It can just slide off into the Southern Ocean with precisely the same effect.