Fig. 1 The Earth's Largest Desert |
I. Well Grounded
The "Grounding Line" subject concerning Tidewater Glaciers in Antarctica has been brought into focus during this series (The Ghost Plumes, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12).
From Bindschadler to Rignot we have learned very interesting things about the elusive realm of Antarctica's glacial grounding lines.
II. Very Current
Today's graphs point out that along the coastline of the Earth's largest desert (Fig. 1) a lot of fresh water is produced way below the surface in various tidewater locations.
One current (ACC) flowing around Antarctica contains more water than all of the Earth's fresh water rivers combined (see link at Fig. 2).
Fig. 2 Mysterious Zones of Antarctica |
The vertical red lines (with a small red square at their bottom) on Fig. 2 symbolically represent warm water (all depths) flowing toward the ACC, and the blue vertical lines (with a small blue square at their top) on Fig. 2 symbolically represent cold water flowing away from the ACC.
The video at the bottom of today's post brings us up to date concerning the most current concepts in light of the new reality of the import of Antarctica's grounding lines.
III. Graphs
The menu table below links to graphs of calculations concerning the generally unconsidered concept of "ghost" plumes.
Plume Appendices | Link |
Flow | Flow Graphs |
Total Flow | Total Flow Graphs |
Annual Flow | Annual Flow Graphs |
IV. Closing Comments
As has been pointed out in several series on this blog, the reason for the use of the word "ghost" is the same reason for the use of the phrase "out of sight, out of mind".
Things we are not yet aware of might as well be considered ghosts (The Ghost-Water Constant, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; NASA Busts The Ghost; The Ghost Photons, 2, 3).
Let's continue to work with our "night vision devices" (measurements).
The next post in this series is here, the previous post of this series is here.
Rignot rocks the grounding lines: