How thick is the Antarctic ice sheet in feet?

How thick is the Antarctic ice sheet in feet?

While thickness varies significantly within both regions, Antarctic ice is typically 1 to 2 meters (3 to 6 feet) thick, while most of the Arctic is covered by sea ice 2 to 3 meters (6 to 9 feet) thick. Some Arctic regions are covered with ice that is 4 to 5 meters (12 to 15 feet) thick.

How thick is the Antarctic ice sheet in miles?

The Antarctic ice sheet is about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) thick. If it melted, sea level would rise by about 60 meters (200 feet).

How thick is the ice that covers East Antarctica?

The mean thickness of the Antarctic ice sheet is 2.16 km. The maximum known thickness of the ice sheet is 4,776 m in Terre Adélie. Without the its ice, Antarctica may be the lowest lying continent. The greatest known depression of bedrock – the Byrd Subglacial Basin – lies at 2,538 m below sea level.

What is the thickest piece of ice in Antarctica?

Most of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is grounded below sea level, in places over 1.5 miles below sea level. These two ice sheets cover all but 2.4 percent of Antarctica’s 14 million square kilometers. At its thickest point the ice sheet is 4,776 meters deep.

What’s the current extent of sea ice in Antarctica?

Starting in mid-2020, Antarctic sea ice was mostly near or above normal. The September 2020 maximum was above the 1981–2010 average, and the February 2021 minimum was below the 1981–2010 average. Antarctic sea ice extent each February from 1979 through 2021.

How big is Antarctica compared to the Arctic?

Antarctica is a continent twice the size of Australia and covered by the world’s largest ice sheet. The Arctic is a complete contrast; most of it is ocean, almost completely surrounded by land and covered for most of the year by thick floating ice. Nearly 85% of the world’s permanent ice is contained in the great ice sheet of Antarctica.

Is the sea ice cover in the Arctic Increasing or decreasing?

In contrast, in the Antarctic the sea ice coverage has been increasing although at a lesser rate than the decreases in the Arctic. Shown below are up-to-date satellite observations of the sea ice covers of both the Arctic and the Antarctic, along with comparisons with the historical satellite record of more than 4 decades.

Which is one of the two polar ice caps?

The Antarctic ice sheet is one of the two polar ice caps of the Earth.