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At its centre, the Greenland ice cap is over 3km thick (around 3275m).
However, in the last ten years, the rate of reduction of Greenland's ice sheet has trebled.
In the article published in the Jan 8th 2011 edition of New Scientist it was suggested that this icecap holds enough ice to raise global sea levels by 7metres.
The complications arise from the variability of snowfall and the actual land area of Greenland.
In the first instance snowfall over a large area is an annual variable and basically impossible to account for. There is continuous melting at the base of the ice, and snow can be blown anywhere on the upper surface, and not evenly distributed.
Secondly, Greenland is not 100% ice covered, and some glaciers extend into the sea, where they "calve off" large chunks as the sea temperature melts them from underneath.
So if you take the land area as being 2.1million Km Sq the 7metres with a global sea area of 360 million Km Sq equates to an overall average thickness of about 1200m depth of the ice cap.
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∙ 13y ago
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∙ 9y agoThe average depth of the Arctic Ocean is 1,038 m (3,410 ft). The deepest point is in the Eurasian Basin, at 5,450 m (17,900 ft).
Deepest Point in the Arctic Ocean
Eurasia Basin: 17,881 feet / 5450 meters
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∙ 8y agoThe ice cap that covers Antarctica is more than 2100 meters thick in places, more than two kilometers (1.3 miles). This is where most of the world's fresh water is contained. If it melted completely it would raise sea levels by 61 meters (200 feet).
Its average thickness is about 1.6 km.
According to NASA the West Antarctic ice sheet rests on a bed well below sea level and is drained by much larger outlet glaciers and ice streams that accelerate over distances of hundreds of kilometers before reaching the ocean, often through large floating ice shelves. The deepest known ice rests 2,555 meters below sea level, where the ice is over 4 kilometers thick.
Wiki User
∙ 9y agoAbout 98% of Antarctica is covered by icethat averages at least 1.9 kilometers (1.2 mi) in thickness, which extends to all but the northernmost reaches of the Antarctic Peninsula.
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∙ 13y ago"First-year ice" Is generally a meter or less, and the majority of ice is such. Multi-year ice can be well over 10 meters in areas of ridging.
Wiki User
∙ 11y agoThe ice sheet of Antarctica has an average thickness of about 1.6 km.
The ice on Antarctica is miles and miles thick which is
7,100 ft thick.
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoat least five inches thick, no less.
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoIt is over 2 miles thick at its thickest.
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Is Antarctica nearly all solid ice?
A solid cap of ice -- frozen fresh water -- covers 98% of the continent, which is land.
Why is the North Pole not a continent yet Antarctica is?
Antarctica has a land mass of 14,000,000 sq km and is covered in a permanent ice cap up to several kilometres thick. North Pole is a polar ice cap floating on the Arctic Ocean, there is no land under it.
How deep is the snow in antarctica?
Very little snow falls in Antarctica, averaging only about 166 mm (6.5 inches) per year. The high interior gets even less, but as this snow never melts, it has been building up over 1.5 million years. The weight of the snow turns it into the ice cap that covers Antarctica. This ice cap is 2000 metres (2 kilometres or 7000 feet) thick on average, and the deepest is 5 kilometres (3 miles).
Are Antarctica and Greenland the only countries affected in the ice cap climate?
No
What covers 98 percent of Antarctica?
No, but 98% of the continent of Antarctica is covered by its ice sheet.
Antarctica's ice cap covers about of the continents landmass?
The ice cap on Antarctica covers a touch over 98% of that continent.
In Antarctica a huge ice cap covers?
In Antarctica an ice sheet covers 98% of the rocky continent below.
What does the huge ice cap that covers Antarctica contain?
Antarctica's ice sheet contains 70% of the earth's fresh water.
What does the huge ice cap cover in Antarctica?
The ice sheet that covers Antarctica is a 98% coverage of the land mass that is the continent.
Is Antarctica nearly all solid ice?
A solid cap of ice -- frozen fresh water -- covers 98% of the continent, which is land.
Is Antarctica an ice cap?
Yes and it is sitting on the landmass of Antarctica. the Arctic ice cap is floating in water.
Does the ice of antarctica ever melt completely?
No. The ice sheet in some places is as thick as two miles. Its least presence still covers 98% of the continent.
Is ice a mineral is antarctica?
Ice in the ice sheet that covers Antarctica is free of any minerals.
What is the largest ice in antarctica?
The largest ice in Antarctica is the ice sheet that covers 98% of the continent.
Why is the North Pole not a continent yet Antarctica is?
Antarctica has a land mass of 14,000,000 sq km and is covered in a permanent ice cap up to several kilometres thick. North Pole is a polar ice cap floating on the Arctic Ocean, there is no land under it.
What percentage of the worlds fresh water is in the Antartcic ice cap?
The ice sheet that covers 98% of Antarctica holds about 70% of the Earth's store of fresh water.
Why did antarctica turn to ice?
Antarctica did not turn to ice, but ice formed over the continent and covers about 98% of it.
