Antarctic Melting May Be Speeding Up

One of the most dangerous consequences of global warming would be extensive melting of the Antarctic Ice Cap, which is as much as three miles thick. Melting could lead to a significant rise in sea level. The cap has been very stable in the past since there is little precipitation and temperatures rarely approach freezing temperature. Latest findings show that the cap is now showing substantial melting, and the problem is likely to worsen.

Rising sea levels and melting polar ice-sheets are at upper limits of projections, leaving some human population centres already unable to cope, top world scientists say as they analyse latest satellite data.

A United Nations report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in February projected sea level gains of 18-59cm this century from temperature rises of 1.8-4.0 degrees Celsius.

“Observations are in the very upper edge of the projections,” leading Australian marine scientist John Church said.

“I feel that we’re getting uncomfortably close to threshold,” said Church, of the CSIRO’s Marine and Atmospheric Research.

Past this level, parts of the Antarctic and Greenland would approach a virtually irreversible melting that would produce sea level rises of metres, he said.

There has been no repeat in the Antarctic of the 2002 break-up of part of the Larsen ice shelf that created a 500 billion tonne iceberg as big as Luxembourg.

But the Antarctic Peninsula is warming faster than anywhere else on Earth, and glaciers are in massive retreat.

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"BOGGLER GOGGLES GLOBAL + LOGS BLOGS" Just another concerned citizen with a heart of gold and a head of steel trying to keep a sense of humor about it all and trying to stay out of the re-education camps. So far, so good.