On Sat, 28 Feb 2015 18:04:21 -0000
"General" wrote:

"Alastair" wrote in message
...

I can't see and Antarctic sea ice on the page you linked

Sorry, I skipped a couple of short steps: Click on the blue bar below
the map images that says 'Antarctic Daily Images' and then on
left-hand map image to enlarge that.

but this map shows the current state of sea ice in the Antarctic.
http://polar.ncep.noaa.gov/seaice/sh.html

I guess that's a different representation of the same thing

And here's another one showing charts of Arctic and Antarctic ice in
greater detail (after you click on the appropriate map):
http://www.iup.uni-bremen.de:8084/amsr2/



The mass you mention is an island of sea ice that has formed during
the SH summer melt.

That's pretty odd though isn't it? Perhaps not, but it just seems
unlikely. How big is that 'island' - the size of Tasmania or
something - difficult to get a sense of scale? It's not like it's
just a big iceberg. And how/why has it calved off like that rather
than melting from the ocean edge? That's what caught my curiosity.

It's just an area of ice floes that have been separated from the rest
by the action of wind and current.


Yes, the ice shelf is mapped as part of the Antarctic land mass. Sea
ice is a few feet thick and reforms each year. Ice shelves are about
1000 feet or more thick.

OK, that makes some sense. But I'd have preferred to see the landmass
still outlined separately from the shelves.


Yes, that would have been more useful. All I can suggest is to compare
those ice charts with this map of Antarctica which shows the land and
ice shelves.
http://www.mapsofworld.com/antarctica/

--
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks. [Retd meteorologist/programmer]
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