SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Unprecedented Warming in Antarctica Causes Worst Melting in 1,000 Years
Antarctic Peninsula ice loss 10 times more than it was 600 years ago
Apr 14, 2013
Ice is melting at a faster rate in the Antarctic Peninsula than at any time in the past 1000 years, and ten times more than it was 600 years ago, according to a new study by the Australian National University and the British Antarctic Survey, published in Nature Geoscience.
According to lead researcher Dr Nerilie Abram:
This new ice core record shows that even small changes in temperature can result in large increases in the amount of melting in places where summer temperatures are near to zero. This has important implications for ice stability and sea level rise in a warming climate.
As Al Jazeera reports Sunday, temperatures across the Antarctic Peninsula, the region focused upon in the study, have risen sharply specifically over the past fifty years, "making this the most rapidly warming region in the Southern Hemisphere."
Abram stated:
Summer melting at the ice-core site today is now at a higher level than at any other time over at least the last 1000 years. And whilst temperatures at this site increased gradually in phases over many hundreds of years, most of the intensification of melting has happened since the mid-20th Century.
Warming in the Antarctic Peninsula comes to over five times the global average and is comparable to rapidly warming regions of the Arctic.
Steff Gaulter at Al Jazeera reports that "around 25,000 km2 of ice have been lost from ten floating ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula. This is particularly significant as it takes a long time to replenish snow and ice in this part of the world."
It is widely held that Antarctica is not at risk of dangerous melting because it often replenishes its ice loss and tends to expand in size. However, according to the study, the rate of ice that is lost on the Antarctic Peninsula region now far exceeds that which is replenished each year.
Gaulter adds: "The global significance of this is difficult to assess. However, the warming of the Antarctic Peninsula is amongst the highest seen anywhere on Earth in recent times, and is a reminder of the rationality of climate change that can be expected in the future."
_______________________
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Jacob Chamberlain
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. He is the author of Migrant Justice in the Age of Removal. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.
Ice is melting at a faster rate in the Antarctic Peninsula than at any time in the past 1000 years, and ten times more than it was 600 years ago, according to a new study by the Australian National University and the British Antarctic Survey, published in Nature Geoscience.
According to lead researcher Dr Nerilie Abram:
This new ice core record shows that even small changes in temperature can result in large increases in the amount of melting in places where summer temperatures are near to zero. This has important implications for ice stability and sea level rise in a warming climate.
As Al Jazeera reports Sunday, temperatures across the Antarctic Peninsula, the region focused upon in the study, have risen sharply specifically over the past fifty years, "making this the most rapidly warming region in the Southern Hemisphere."
Abram stated:
Summer melting at the ice-core site today is now at a higher level than at any other time over at least the last 1000 years. And whilst temperatures at this site increased gradually in phases over many hundreds of years, most of the intensification of melting has happened since the mid-20th Century.
Warming in the Antarctic Peninsula comes to over five times the global average and is comparable to rapidly warming regions of the Arctic.
Steff Gaulter at Al Jazeera reports that "around 25,000 km2 of ice have been lost from ten floating ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula. This is particularly significant as it takes a long time to replenish snow and ice in this part of the world."
It is widely held that Antarctica is not at risk of dangerous melting because it often replenishes its ice loss and tends to expand in size. However, according to the study, the rate of ice that is lost on the Antarctic Peninsula region now far exceeds that which is replenished each year.
Gaulter adds: "The global significance of this is difficult to assess. However, the warming of the Antarctic Peninsula is amongst the highest seen anywhere on Earth in recent times, and is a reminder of the rationality of climate change that can be expected in the future."
_______________________
Jacob Chamberlain
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. He is the author of Migrant Justice in the Age of Removal. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.
Ice is melting at a faster rate in the Antarctic Peninsula than at any time in the past 1000 years, and ten times more than it was 600 years ago, according to a new study by the Australian National University and the British Antarctic Survey, published in Nature Geoscience.
According to lead researcher Dr Nerilie Abram:
This new ice core record shows that even small changes in temperature can result in large increases in the amount of melting in places where summer temperatures are near to zero. This has important implications for ice stability and sea level rise in a warming climate.
As Al Jazeera reports Sunday, temperatures across the Antarctic Peninsula, the region focused upon in the study, have risen sharply specifically over the past fifty years, "making this the most rapidly warming region in the Southern Hemisphere."
Abram stated:
Summer melting at the ice-core site today is now at a higher level than at any other time over at least the last 1000 years. And whilst temperatures at this site increased gradually in phases over many hundreds of years, most of the intensification of melting has happened since the mid-20th Century.
Warming in the Antarctic Peninsula comes to over five times the global average and is comparable to rapidly warming regions of the Arctic.
Steff Gaulter at Al Jazeera reports that "around 25,000 km2 of ice have been lost from ten floating ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula. This is particularly significant as it takes a long time to replenish snow and ice in this part of the world."
It is widely held that Antarctica is not at risk of dangerous melting because it often replenishes its ice loss and tends to expand in size. However, according to the study, the rate of ice that is lost on the Antarctic Peninsula region now far exceeds that which is replenished each year.
Gaulter adds: "The global significance of this is difficult to assess. However, the warming of the Antarctic Peninsula is amongst the highest seen anywhere on Earth in recent times, and is a reminder of the rationality of climate change that can be expected in the future."
_______________________
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy