(while composing this, the thread in Flame it was intended for slipped below the line)

This is a response to TB's statement that glaciers in Antarctica are growing. (TB, I must have missed your first posting of this statement...do you have it in your bookmarks? I'd like to read the initial source material.)

Sea ice is not a glacier. Glaciers are far more complicated, and an ice cap, which is a collection of glaciers, is even more complicated.

Satellite images can show ice cover, but gravity and radar studies are needed to understand the volume of a glacier, which is key to understand if the glaciers are growing or melting. A glacier can expand in areal extent while decreasing in volume.

The few gravity studies I have seen did not cover the entire Antarctic area, just the west ice sheet, and were of limited time frame. And even if the ice cover of Antarctica is growing, that may be the result of changes in either temperature or moisture content.

Is the temperature changing in Antarctica, over the last several decades? If so, is it getting warmer or colder? Here's some datafrom 1982 to 2004, and, naturally, it's both. (note: the data is surface temp, not atmosphere) The center is cooling while the edges are warming.

Is the atmosphere above Antarctica getting moister? Remember, it's actually pretty dry air down there. Part of the reason for that is it's damn cold there. The saturation of water in air drops as the air gets colder. Cold air doesn't hold moisture. Therefore, more snow might be an indication of increasing temperature! The warming coastal areas might be feeding moisture to the cooler interior, resulting in a local thickening of the center while there is enhanced ablation at the rim.

There is much to understand about the dynamics of the Antarctic Ice Cap. I wish I had more time to research this topic, because it is a fascinating system; like the tensional fractures in ice we recently discussed over on Space. But I couldn't let a blanket statement such as "it's expanding" stand without pointing out that it is a gross simplification.