Reuters: Science News: Scientists find Antarctic ice is melting faster

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Scientists find Antarctic ice is melting faster Apr 15th 2013, 06:44 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News COLUMN-Slowdown in warming no argument for policy change:Wynn Fri, Apr 12 2013 Oceans may explain slowdown in climate change: study Sun, Apr 7 2013 Global warming means seas freeze more off Antarctica: study Sun, Mar 31 2013 Tagging, satellite tracking reveals mystery of blue whales Wed, Mar 27 2013 Tomatoes, peppers, strawberries in Greenland's Arctic valleys Tue, Mar 26 2013 Related Topics Science » Environment » Ice melt shows through at a cliff face at Landsend on the coast of Cape Denison in Antarctica December 14, 2009. Credit: Reuters/Pauline Askin CANBERRA | Mon Apr 15, 2013 2:44am EDT CANBERRA (Reuters) - The summer ice melt in parts of Antarctica is at its highest level in 1,000 years, Australian and British researchers reported on Monday, adding new evidence of the impact of global warming on sensitive Antarctic glaciers and ice shelves. Researchers from the Australian National University and the British Antarctic Survey found data taken from an ice core also shows the summer ice melt has been 10 times more intense over the past 50 years compared with 600 years ago. "It's definitely evidence that the climate and the environment is changing in this part of Antarctica," lead researcher Nerilie Abram said. Abram and her team drilled a 364-metre (400-yard) deep ice core on James Ross Island, near the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, to measure historical temperatures and compare them with summer ice melt levels in the area. They found that, while the temperatures have gradually increased by 1.6 degrees Celsius (2.9 degrees Fahrenheit) over 600 years, the rate of ice melting has been most intense over the past 50 years. That shows the ice melt can increase dramatically in climate terms once temperatures hit a tipping point. "Once your climate is at that level where it is starting to go above zero degrees, the amount of melt that will happen is very sensitive to any further increase in temperature you may have," Abram said. Robert Mulvaney, from the British Antarctic Survey, said the stronger ice melts are likely responsible for faster glacier ice loss and some of the dramatic collapses from the Antarctic ice shelf over the past 50 years. Their research was published in the Nature Geoscience journal. (Reporting by James Grubel; Editing by Paul Tait) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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