Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumA new NASA study finds Antarctic ice mass is increasing
Were essentially in agreement with other studies that show an increase in ice discharge in the Antarctic Peninsula and the Thwaites and Pine Island region of West Antarctica, said Jay Zwally, a glaciologist with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and lead author of the study, which was published on Oct. 30 in the Journal of Glaciology. Our main disagreement is for East Antarctica and the interior of West Antarctica there, we see an ice gain that exceeds the losses in the other areas. Zwally added that his team measured small height changes over large areas, as well as the large changes observed over smaller areas.
Scientists calculate how much the ice sheet is growing or shrinking from the changes in surface height that are measured by the satellite altimeters. In locations where the amount of new snowfall accumulating on an ice sheet is not equal to the ice flow downward and outward to the ocean, the surface height changes and the ice-sheet mass grows or shrinks.
But it might only take a few decades for Antarcticas growth to reverse, according to Zwally. If the losses of the Antarctic Peninsula and parts of West Antarctica continue to increase at the same rate theyve been increasing for the last two decades, the losses will catch up with the long-term gain in East Antarctica in 20 or 30 years -- I dont think there will be enough snowfall increase to offset these losse
http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/nasa-study-mass-gains-of-antarctic-ice-sheet-greater-than-losses
Chemisse
(30,813 posts)hatrack
(59,587 posts)Sea level rise also seems likely to continue to be powered by ice sheet loss at the terminal ends.
But at least this buys us a couple of decades, on that end of the world anyway.
JonathanRackham
(1,604 posts)Idiots will stop conserving energy.
pscot
(21,024 posts)This is likely a local effect of climate change. Although the denialists will surely fasten on it as 'proof' of something.
OKIsItJustMe
(19,938 posts)The good news is that Antarctica is not currently contributing to sea level rise, but is taking 0.23 millimeters per year away, Zwally said. But this is also bad news. If the 0.27 millimeters per year of sea level rise attributed to Antarctica in the IPCC report is not really coming from Antarctica, there must be some other contribution to sea level rise that is not accounted for.
happyslug
(14,779 posts)With the increase in world wide temperatures, more moisture will be carried to the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, bring with in more snow, which in turn will turn to Ice. Given Antarctica is the TALLEST continent overall (Asia has the Himalayas, but that is offset by Southeast Asia, India and Siberia, all low lying areas of Asia, South America has the Andes, but also the Amazon Basin in Brazil and the flat pampas of Argentina).
This additional moisture and the increase average height of East Antarctica means East Antarctica has been expected to EXPAND in most climate models since at least the 1970s. Thus this expansion is NOT unexpected.
Please note, the smaller West Antarctic Ice Sheet is only "expanding" in the areas of the Antarctic Mountains (Which separates East and West Antarctica), in the rest of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet it is in decline.
Just a comment that this is confirmation of what has been expected in a warming world, thus it is NOT good news, it is a sign that the various models on Climate Change have been accurate.