Antarctic glaciers show retreat (BBC News)

[Up2Late]

Antarctic glaciers show retreat

The glaciers of the Antarctic Peninsula are in rapid retreat.

Thursday, 21 April, 2005, 22:03 GMT 23:03 UK

A detailed study reported in Science magazine shows nearly 90% of the ice bodies streaming down from the mountains to the ocean are losing mass. But the authors - a joint team from the British-Antarctic and US-Geological Surveys - say the big melt could have a number of complex causes.

Although higher air temperatures are a factor, they say, the full picture may go beyond just simple global warming. "The overall picture is of glaciers retreating in a pattern that suggests the most important factor is atmospheric warming; we can connect the retreat with the observed warming recorded at climate stations along the peninsula," explained Dr David Vaughan, from the British Antarctic Survey (Bas). "But it's not a perfect fit; there seem to be other factors involved as well - possibly to do with changing ocean currents and temperatures," he told BBC News.

See how the Sheldon Glacier has changed over time

The study covers 244 glaciers found largely on the western side of the peninsula. They are all relatively small, independent streams of ice that fall from an altitude of about 2,000m down to sea level, where they either ground into the ocean or push out into the water as a floating "tongue".

The team used more than 2,000 aerial photographs dating from 1940, and over 100 satellite images from the 1960s onwards, to assess the change in position of glacier fronts over time. Bas scientist Alison Cook, who led the research, said: "This is the first comprehensive study of marine glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula,"

(more at link above)

[Toots]

1. Interesting what is happening there

Average Temperature of the Antartic Peninsula is -5C. I don't see how glaciers could melt at that temperature but facts are hard to dispute.

[NickB79]

2. It does go above freezing during the summer months there

And those summer months are not only getting warmer, but lasting longer. It really doesn't take much to cause a lot of ice to move off the continent and into the ocean. Melting water can work its way between crevices, cracking ice masses and lubricating the glaciers so that they can more rapidly flow over rock towards the ocean. It's pretty much a domino effect in action.

[KittyWampus]

3. YEAH! WOOHOO! Drilling FOr Oil Down South!

[Delphinus]

5. That's not funny!

You know that's what they're thinking!! :cry:

[G_j]

4. Antarctic Peninsula bears brunt of global warming

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2005/s1351249.htm

Antarctic Peninsula bears brunt of global warming

AM - Friday, 22 April , 2005 08:28:00
Reporter: Kirsten Aiken

TONY EASTLEY: A comprehensive study of the history of glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula indicates that the region is experiencing atmospheric warming at a rate up to five times the global average.

The British Antarctic Survey found nearly all of the Peninsula's 244 glaciers have retreated over the past 50 years. If the trend continues, and there's no reason that the BAS says that it won't, sea levels around the world could rise and flood low-lying cities.

London reporter Kirsten Aiken asked the British Antarctic Survey's Principal Investigator, David Vaughan, what the implications were from increased Antarctic melts.

DAVID VAUGHAN: These results in themselves don't actually tell us a huge amount about sea level rise, but they are clearly a response to climate change, and I view them as just another piece in the jigsaw, the sort of, the million piece jigsaw that scientists are building that tell us how climate change is changing the planet.


..more..

[ZR2]

6. We are always either coming into or coming out of an ice age

looks like we are coming out of one right now. I have to wonder how far into the future the buzzwords are going to be "global cooling"

[Roland99]

7. The earth has long had warming periods. But...

The warming coming out of an ice age doesn't usually occur in a couple of decades, does it?

[Deja Q]

8. YES! Global cooling, we're socking it to you!

[lovuian]

9. What about the Salinity of the Oceans???

Wheres that going???