Posted on 08/10/2013 7:57:52 PM PDT by Robert A Cook PE
Working on some area and latitude calculations for sea ice.
many hundreds of on-line references report that the Antarctic continent is 14,000,000 square kilometers: A nice, convenient even round number.
That's obviously always been rounded off as one source copies from everybody, or just never measured accurately. Neither seems correct.
the NSIRDC tracks sea ice, and they have explicitly written me that their "Antarctic Sea Ice"totals do NOT include the permanent ice shelves around many areas of that continent. Fine, no problem: and it even makes sense: Why should a federal agency track "permanent sea shelves" when they can get more money and attention by tracking the ever-changing sea ice around the permanent ice shelves? /sarcasm
Nevertheless, I need you - the esteemed readers and writers of FR, to help me determine if that 14,000,000 square kilometers includes just the land area, or if it includes the ice shelves (Ronne, Ross, Filchner, etc) around the land area.
Depends on the sea level and the extent to which the ice is grounded.
I do have a 100ft tape and a warm sweater I'm willing to loan you if you want to go measure it. ;)
/johnny
Check some of the multinational treaties for exactness.
But is seems to me the calculation you want would really just be the actual land mass..
What difference at this point does it make?
Being a very kind person I didn’t post a pic.
Or the secret entrances that Admiral Byrd flew into to capture the dinosaurs?
Reason is: The seasonal Antarctic sea ice “wraps around” the somewhat irregular land mass and those permanent ice shelves: The entire result is a “cap” centered on the south pole.
So, if I know the land area (that 14,000,000 sq km) and the permanent ice shelves (1,200,000 sq km), plus the sea ice in each month, then I can get pretty accurate estimates of the latitude of the edge of the sea ice as it expands and contracts.
But, should that sea ice be “started” at 14,000,000 sq km; or further out at 15,200,000 sq km?
Yeah - Usually, that’s the old 3 mile, then 12 mile “cannon fire” limit of a nation’s land.
Back before Obama and the democrats started to refuse to care about America’s power, that is.
Yes, I do have an older atlas.
But it is packed and at home.
Location unknown.
Otherwise: tekeli-li!
the 1998 World Almanac says 5,400,000 square miles.
Slight problem...my Rand McNally atlas from 1930 makes it clear that, for much of the continent, they don’t know where the sea ice ends and the land begins...
13,986,000 Sounds like what they rounded off from to get that 14,000,000 sq km’s 8<)
And, sometimes, simply admitting that they “don’t know” might be the most accurate answer possible.
I just don’t know. But, thanks for asking.
What the heck is a Geographiliac? Someone who has to be very careful not to start talking about geography, for fear he'll keep doing so until it kills him?
What difference at this point does it make?
Being a very kind person I didn’t post a pic.
Thanks. I’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers
“Antarctica covers an area of some 13 million sq. km. In only around 0.4% of this area is the rock exposed.”
From the Bedmap Project. This webpage shows a map of Antarctica without the ice.
http://nsidc.org/data/atlas/news/bedrock_elevation.html
ping for later
> just the land area, or if it includes the ice shelves (Ronne, Ross, Filchner, etc) around the land area.
Much of the ice of Antarctica is below sealevel, or ‘floating’ above what would otherwise be ocean — iow, even if it melted, it wouldn’t have an impact on sealevel.
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