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quietrain
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as per the title. does anyone know?
quietrain said:does anyone know?
AlephZero said:Apparently, the captain of the Titanic didn't...
quietrain said:er
i meant as a whole, why do the ice caps not move away from the poles? not referring to those pieces of ices that break off and float away.
but like what russ said, the ice are not floating? so is it attached to the bottom of the sea floor or something? land masses don't float away because they are high altitude land, and attached to the Earth right? but what about these ice?
or is it like what andre said, where ice keeps moving away and melt , and new ice forms?
then wouldn't the animals like the polar bear be floating away too?
TheMadMonk said:My bold.
Ice at the south pole is partially atop a large landmass.
davenn said:As I had already said ;)
D
Ophiolite said:No. The bulk of the southern ice cap is atop a land mass. The bulk of the northern ice cap is thin, floating and constrained by the surrounding land masses and ocean currents.
Indeed it does. Icebergs float all down the coast of Newfoundland an Labrador. Some are very large. Even larger ice sheets move and bump against each other. But as a whole, the entire Arctic ice sheet is not entirely isolated from land. It encounter shorelines and runs deep where it encounters the ocean floor.quietrain said:oh, so there's no land in the north?
so i saw this documentary about the great melt, it says ice will melt during some time of the year.
so when it melts, wouldn't the north pole ice start to float around?
The ice in the arctic is always in motion.quietrain said:so when it melts, wouldn't the north pole ice start to float around?
Ice at the poles does not float away because of the Earth's rotation and the gravitational pull of the Earth. The poles are located at the Earth's axis, where the force of gravity is the strongest. This keeps the ice in place and prevents it from drifting away.
The Earth's rotation creates a centrifugal force that pushes the ice towards the poles, keeping it in place. This force counteracts the gravitational pull, preventing the ice from floating away.
The Earth is not a perfect sphere, it is slightly flattened at the poles. This shape causes the gravitational pull to be stronger at the poles, keeping the ice in place despite the Earth's rotation.
The Earth's atmosphere also plays a role in keeping ice at the poles. The cold temperatures and strong winds create a barrier around the poles, making it difficult for ice to melt or drift away.
It is unlikely that the ice at the poles will completely melt or float away. The Earth's rotation and gravitational pull will continue to keep the ice in place, and any changes in the Earth's atmosphere would likely be gradual and not significant enough to cause the ice to melt or float away completely.