• Question: how much snow is there :):):):):)

    Asked by sean_ben to Beth on 13 Oct 2015.
    • Photo: Beth Healey

      Beth Healey answered on 13 Oct 2015:

      Hello! This is Adrianos from Greece, I am Beth’s predecessor as a research doctor for the European Space Agency in Antarctica and I am filling in for her today due to connectivity problems over there.

      There is definitely a lot of snow and ice around – and the majority lies at the poles of the Earth, the Arctic and Antarctica! However, it is not that much if you compare it to the Earth’s total water (the ice and permanent snow of the poles make up only about 1.7%).

      Could we count every snowflake? Highly unlikely! But an interesting analogy that i like to make is: Can you count all the grains of sands in all the beaches of the Earth? Can you count all the stars in our Milky Way galaxy? With such big quantities we can only speak about “orders of magnitude”, not specific numbers!

Comments

  • Photo: Beth

    Beth commented on :

    Thanks Adrianos!!
    It’s as far as you can see in every direction! There was a famous scientific project here a few years ago called EPICA. They drilled down through the ice and reached ice which was 800,000 years old!!