Description:
This educational brief explains that the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets cover 10% of the Earth’s land area and contain 77% of the world’s freshwater. They comprise 99% of all the glacier ice on earth. Studying them over long periods of time can tell us a great deal about climate change. Although the current rate of sea level rise is as much as 2mm/yr, it is not known whether the present ice sheets are shrinking or growing. The brief covers Mass Balance and the Formation of Ice Sheets, Mechanisms of Loss, and Mass Loss by Discharge.

Organization:
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

URL:
http://edmall.gsfc.nasa.gov/99invest.Site/science-briefs/ice/ed-ice.html

Contact:
Waleed Abdalati, Waleed.Abdalati.1@gsfc.nasa.gov, Mailstop 971.0, Greenbelt, MD 20771; Phone: (301) 614-5706

Cost:
None

Education Level:
Grades 9-12
Post Secondary

Subject:
Snow and Ice

Resource Type:
Internet Site
Fact Sheet

Date Added to teachearth.com:
12/16/00