New Ice Core Analysis Confirms Evidence of Antarctic Peninsula’s Changing Weather Patterns
07.02.2008 - Other
Scientists from British Antarctic Survey and the Desert Research Institute have used analysis of a new core -dubbed Gomez- and direct observations made since the first permanent Antarctic research stations to provide new evidence of increased snowfall in the Antarctic Peninsula as it gets warmer.
Analysis of the Gomez ice core reveals a relatively stable annual snowfall of around half a metre per year between the 1850s and 1930s, followed by a steady increase until the 1970s when the rise accelerated. Over the last decade, the amount of annual snowfall reached about 1 metre - double the 1930s average. Although the findings are consistent with predictions of an increased snowfall as the Antarctic Peninsula gets warmer, the magnitude of the change is surprising.
This marked and increasingly rapid rise in snow accumulation on the western Antarctic Peninsula is yet more evidence of dramatic climate change in the region. The rapidity is significant because it shows that large scale changes in weather patterns can happen very quickly - even within our lifetime - and if these shifts in snowfall can happen in the Antarctic Peninsula, they could also happen elsewhere.
