For the First Time, Scientists Prove Human Activity Is the Top Cause of Warming Antarctic Waters

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And not regular temperature variations or responses to natural climate change

Neil Swart had barely begun his master’s degree at the University of Cape Town when he embarked on a three-month voyage to the South Pole.

While aboard a ship meant to resupply South Africa’s research facilities in Antarctica, enduring rocky waters and waves reaching 10 meters tall, Swart deployed instruments to record the Antarctic Ocean’s temperature.

At the time, Swart thought of himself as a volunteer helping further “someone else’s science.” He didn’t expect that 13 years later, the data he collected would allow him and a team of researchers to identify human activity as the number one cause of rising water temperatures in the Antarctic Ocean, also known as the Southern Ocean.

“It’s kind of nice to see it come full circle,” Swart, now a researcher with Environment and Climate Change Canada, told National Observer in an interview.

Along with other scientists from the department, and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California, Swart found that changes seen in Southern Ocean temperature are directly tied to ozone depletion and human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, as opposed to regular temperature variations or responses to natural climate changes, such as volcanic eruptions or changes in the sun.


Much more: https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/09/for-the-first-time-scientists-prove-human-activity-is-the-top-cause-of-warming-antarctic-waters/



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