Sarah RoseATOC 1060CHAPER 6Cryosphere- high albedo- Earth’s major ice caps Greenland and Antarctica- Ice cover of the Arctic and Antarctica oceans Continental ice sheets, ice shelves, mountain glaciers, sea ice, river/lake ice, snow cover, permafrost Glaciers/ice sheets/sea ice are in constant motion Ice sheets, ice on land (potential to change sea level)Ice shelves, ice floating on water (does not change sea level)Thermal inertia, high albedo reflects energy that would other wise be absorbed Snow temperature keeps air temperature lower, snow is not a good conductor of heat (low thermal conductivity) snow cover reduces heat loss from the ground to the atmosphere, aged snow is more dense Permafrostp, permafrostg, atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrationT, temperature Permanently frozen ground, any ground theremains below zero degrees Upper layer is the active layer Where permafrost has high ice content thawing can cause subsidence - depression and small hill cause by this are referred to as thermokarst melting permafrost also releases trapped greenhouse gases - near surface melting of permafrost results in lakes and waterlogged soil with anaerobic (low oxygen) conditions fosters an environment for methane producing organisms - largest reservoir of carbon- carbon in permafrost = 2x carbon in the atmosphere melting permafrost effects local ecosystemsArtic warming much faster then the rest of the planet because of the positive ice albedo feedbackGlaciers and Ice SheetsThey are shrinkingSnow cover persists through summer and starts to accumulate over time, increases in thickness, localized differences in vapor pressure, result in sublimation, increases densitySea ice, seasonal cycle over months, shrinking on decadal time scaleSea Ice and atmosphere-ocean heat flux- winter artic air below freezing- artic sea water, near freezing warmer then air- sea ice insulates oceans, sea ice concentrationT, air temperatureh, heat flux form ocean Ablation, meltCHAPTER