Antarctica Warmed More than Previously Thought in Last 50 Years
23.01.2009 - Land & Geology, Ice & Snow, Human Dimension, Other, Antarctic
Until recently scientists studying climate change believed that the East Antarctic Ice Sheet was not getting significantly warmer like the rest of the planet and actually getting colder, and that the Antarctic Peninsula was the only part of the continent getting significantly warmer. However a recent study by Eric Steig, Professor of Earth and Space Sciences and Director of the Quaternary Research Center at the University of Washington showed that much of Antarctica has been warming at a rate comparable to the rest of the planet.
<link href="file:///E:DOCUME~1MartinLOCALS~1Tempmsohtml1<o:smarttagtype name=" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> Normal 0 21 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object><style>st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }</style><![endif]--><style><!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:ES-TRAD;}@page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:70.85pt 70.85pt 70.85pt 70.85pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;}div.Section1 {page:Section1;}--></style><!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;}</style><![endif]-->Steig combined data from various records in order to fill in the gaps of the 50-year history of surface temperatures in Antarctica. According to Steig, the data the had been collected from the various stations on the continent were too sparse, leading the International Panel on Climate Change to conclude in its Fourth Assessment Report that "Antarctica is the one continent where we have failed to detect human-caused temperature changes." But the new 50-year record, however, is based on a calculation of the relation between overlapping satellite and ground-based measurements of the last 26 years and serves as a basis for more accurate research.
The research conducted by Steig and his colleagues concluded that:
- The hole in the ozone layer, which appears during the spring months, contributes to cooling in East Antarctica.
- Although East Antarctica was cooling during the spring months, West Antarctica was warming at a rate of 0.17°C (0.31°F) per decade, a much higher rate than the average of the whole continent (0.12°C or 0.22°F over a decade).
The study thus concludes that West Antarctica is the part of the continent the most vulnerable to climate change - a conclusion to be taken very seriously, since the complete melting of the entire West Antarctic ice sheet would imply a global sea level rise of 5 to 6 metres (16 to 20 feet) having a dramatic impact on the rest of the world.
