The sea ice atop the Arctic Ocean can—as shown in this photograph from July 12, 2011—look more like swiss cheese or a bright coastal wetland. As ice melts, the liquid water collects in depressions on the surface and deepens them, forming melt ponds. These fresh water ponds are separated from the salty sea below and around it, until breaks in the ice merge the two. Caption and Photo source: NASA
Excerpts; By the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in Science Daily
During the last prolonged warm spell on Earth, the oceans were at least four meters, and possibly as much as 6.5 meters, or about 20 feet, higher than they are now. Where did all that extra water come from ? …
