Accipiter - 30 December 2006 04:18 PM

Some things might change in other ways as well.  The weight of all that ice has pushed down places like Antarctica and Greenland.  Maybe with all that extra weight gone, they will rise back up again?

Yes, and other area’s will sink as a result of that (think of it as a half-inflated footbal: when you push down a part, another part rises and vv.).

Scandinavia is currently still rising as a result of the disappearance of its icecaps at the end of the last glacial. In response to that, the eastern North Sea Basin including the Low Countries, is still sinking.

Bebelicious - 30 December 2006 03:51 PM

I’d always been taught the ice caps were over a land mass, but that didn’t seem to be the theory I watched today. 

Well—polar ice caps are, by definition, at the poles.  The continents move around (plate tectonics).  If there’s a continent there, then the ice cap IS over a land mass.  If not, not. 

Right now, the south polar ice IS on top of a continent (Antarctica).  The north polar ice cap is just on the ocean.  I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure it’s possible to navigate a submarine underneath all or at least most of the north polar ice.

Another way cool tangent:  4 km beneath the ice on Antarctica lies a huge freshwater lake, Lake Vostok.

JoeDaJuggler - 31 December 2006 09:28 AM

Bebelicious - 30 December 2006 03:51 PM

I’d always been taught the ice caps were over a land mass, but that didn’t seem to be the theory I watched today. 

Well—polar ice caps are, by definition, at the poles.  The continents move around (plate tectonics).  If there’s a continent there, then the ice cap IS over a land mass.  If not, not. 

Right now, the south polar ice IS on top of a continent (Antarctica).  The north polar ice cap is just on the ocean.  I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure it’s possible to navigate a submarine underneath all or at least most of the north polar ice.

Depends on what you call the North Pole Ice Cap. I would say part of it (the Greenland Ice Cap) is on land, part of it on water.