Image: Antarctica Without Ice Sheet

Description: This is topographic map of Antarctica after removing the ice sheet and accounting for both isostatic rebound and sea level rise. Hence this map suggests what Antarctica may have looked like 35 million years ago, when the Earth was warm enough to prevent the formation of large-scale ice sheets in Antarctica. Isostatic rebound is the result of the weight of the ice sheet depressing the land under it. After the ice is removed, the land will rise over a period of thousands of years by an amount approximately 1/3 as high as the ice sheet that was removed (because rock is 3 times as dense as ice). Approximately half the uplift occurs during the first two thousand years [1]. If the ice sheet is removed over more than a few thousand years, then it is possible that a majority of the uplift will occur before the ice sheet fully disappears. As indicated in the map, Antarctica consists of a large continental region (East Antarctica) and group of seas and smaller land regions (West Antarctica). Since the West Antarctic ice sheet is partially anchored below sea level, this region is less stable and more likely to be affected by global warming. Even so, it is likely that during the next century increased precipitation over Antarctica will offset melting. Even in the event of severe sustained warming, it would take many thousands of years for Eastern Antarctica to be fully deglaciated.
Title: Antarctica Without Ice Sheet
Credit: http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/File:Antarctica_Without_Ice_Sheet_png
Author: Image created by Robert A. Rohde / Global Warming Art
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
License Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
Attribution Required?: Yes