Lack Of Antarctic Snowfall Increase Means Worst To Come In S. Hemisphere

[hatrack]

EDIT

A study published yesterday in the Science journal reports snowfall in Antarctica has not increased over the past 50 years.

This contradicts the predictions of most climate models that are based on the assumption that warming air can carry more moisture and produce greater snowfalls at the poles.

University of Newcastle palaeoclimatologist Dr Ian Goodwin says the recent evidence supports the idea that there is a lag between global warming and Antarctica's response to it, which is not recognised in climate models. He says Antarctica and the southern hemisphere are surrounded by large oceans that take a long time to heat and therefore act as a buffer to climate change.

"We can be relatively complacent about the effects of climate change in the Southern Hemisphere because we haven't seen dramatic changes," he says. "But the frightening thing I think is that we are not yet seeing the full impact of global warming in the southern hemisphere, but it's just around the corner."

EDIT

http://abc.net.au/news/items/200608/1713551.htm?newcastle