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Rather than focusing on the big sounding absolute number in the headline, the more important number is the 3-fold increase since 2012. This means that the loss

Rather than focusing on the big sounding absolute number in the headline, the more important number is the 3-fold increase since 2012. This means that the losses are accelerating, which is very concerning.

kchronic8 8y ago
Yeah it's concerning. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll get back to driving my gasoline vehicle and not carpooling.
- natalyarostova 8y ago
  You don't need us to excuse you, this is an internet comment thread.
gehwartzen 8y ago
Beyond that I wish articles included the total volume of ice in Antarctica; not that I believe 3 trillion tones of lost ice is not a big deal but I have no idea if that represents 1% or 50% of the available total.
- southern_cross 8y ago
  It looks like the total amount of estimated ice in Antarctica is something like 30,000,000 cubic kilometers, give or take. In comparison, the amount of ice being lost here probably doesn't even amount to rounding error; it's more like just noise. (Someone else here has calculated a value of about 0.01%, but I don't know how accurate that is.) That's a common theme with such reports these days, BTW. The numbers quoted can be scary at first, but looking at the bigger picture they often turn out to fall into the margin-of-error/statistical-noise range - a bit disconcerting, maybe, but not something to get too worked up about. What's more interesting to me is usually what's left out of such reports. For example, there are claims that while ice may be melting around the edges of Antarctica (at least in certain parts of it), a lot of that may just end back up as snow in the interior instead of actually staying in the ocean. And while "warming waters" might be caused by climate change, they might also be due to geothermal activity in and around Antarctica - undersea thermal vents and such. The continent itself should have about the same level of volcanic and geothermal activity that any other continent typically has, which of course ebbs and flows, but it's generally hidden from view under all that ice.
  - lostmsu 8y ago
    A poor estimate is that 1 trillion tones of ice is 1000 cubic kilometers.

kchronic8 8y ago

Yeah it's concerning. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll get back to driving my gasoline vehicle and not carpooling.

natalyarostova 8y ago
You don't need us to excuse you, this is an internet comment thread.

gehwartzen 8y ago

Beyond that I wish articles included the total volume of ice in Antarctica; not that I believe 3 trillion tones of lost ice is not a big deal but I have no idea if that represents 1% or 50% of the available total.

southern_cross 8y ago
It looks like the total amount of estimated ice in Antarctica is something like 30,000,000 cubic kilometers, give or take. In comparison, the amount of ice being lost here probably doesn't even amount to rounding error; it's more like just noise. (Someone else here has calculated a value of about 0.01%, but I don't know how accurate that is.) That's a common theme with such reports these days, BTW. The numbers quoted can be scary at first, but looking at the bigger picture they often turn out to fall into the margin-of-error/statistical-noise range - a bit disconcerting, maybe, but not something to get too worked up about. What's more interesting to me is usually what's left out of such reports. For example, there are claims that while ice may be melting around the edges of Antarctica (at least in certain parts of it), a lot of that may just end back up as snow in the interior instead of actually staying in the ocean. And while "warming waters" might be caused by climate change, they might also be due to geothermal activity in and around Antarctica - undersea thermal vents and such. The continent itself should have about the same level of volcanic and geothermal activity that any other continent typically has, which of course ebbs and flows, but it's generally hidden from view under all that ice.
- lostmsu 8y ago
  A poor estimate is that 1 trillion tones of ice is 1000 cubic kilometers.