Global Warming (Geophysics)

[Mick Harper]

Something that came up in discussions about deserts was the one on Greenland. This is, like Antarctica, an example of an all-wet landscape (ice) that doesn't get much of the substance that made it so (snow). Greenland is there because snow falls but doesn't melt, so just builds up. But how much is 'not much'?

[Pete Jones]

[Mick Harper]

Not really. I doubt very much whether the icefield in question is within the Greenland desert (situated in the far north-east). However your point about crushed ice might be relevant when it comes to deciding the age of Greenland.

The problem here is that the weight of the ice has already pushed the original surface -- whether it was land or ocean floor -- beneath sea level. Hence orthodoxy, who are mesmerised by 'continents' because 'continental drift' was the forerunner of Plate Tectonics, treat Greenland as being the same as, say, Canada or Iceland.

For us, the whole surface of the earth is the same whether it happens to be covered by a bit of water or not. We do not include icebergs that have grown

* so large they have got stuck on the ocean floor
* so heavy they have dug their own foundations into the ocean floor
* so high they have their own climate at the top
* so cold it prevents any new snow melting
* so old they fool foolish geographers into supposing they are land.

Imagine asking a geographer how old Canada is.