Hundreds of Antarctic Peninsula glaciers accelerating as climate warmsJune 06, 2007Hundreds of glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula are flowing faster, further adding to sea level rise according to new research published this week in the Journal of Geophysical Research. Climate warming, that is already causing Antarctic Peninsula increased summer snow melt and ice shelf retreat, is the most likely cause. Using radar images acquired by European ERS-1 and -2 satellites, scientists from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) tracked the flow rate of over 300 previously unstudied glaciers. They found a 12% increase in glacier speed from 1993 to 2003. These observations - that echo recent findings from coastal Greenland - indicate that the cause is melting of the lower glaciers, which flow directly into the sea. As they thin, the buoyancy of the ice can lift the glaciers off their rock beds, allowing them to slide faster. In February this year, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that they could not provide an upper limit on the rate of sea-level rise from Antarctica in coming centuries because of a lack of understanding of the behaviour of the large ice sheets. These new results give scientists a clearer picture about the way that climate warming can affect glaciers both in the Arctic and Antarctic. Furthermore, they pave the way for more reliable projections of future sea level rise, and provide a better basis for policy decisions.
Lead author Dr Hamish Pritchard says, "The Antarctic Peninsula has experienced some of the fastest warming on Earth, nearly 3°C over the last half-century. Eighty-seven percent of its glaciers have been retreating during this period and now we see these glaciers are also speeding up. It's important that we use tools such as satellite technology that allow us to monitor changes in remote and inaccessible glaciers on a regional scale. Understanding what's happening now gives us our best chance of predicting what's likely to happen in the future." British Antarctic Survey Science News and Science Current Events Tag Cloud This tag cloud is a visual representation of term frequencies of random science news topics with common terms grouped together and emphasized by their display size. Narcolepsy Childhood Obesity Robotic Surgery Myocardial Infarction Respiratory Infection Mastectomy Dyslexia Pregnancy Smoking cessation Language Acetaminophen Cyclones Weight Loss Technology Brain Tumor Back Pain Microbes Facial Expressions Neurodegenerative Diseases Collagen Evolution Spinal Muscular Atrophy Aggressive Behavior Overweight Children Antiretroviral
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Related Sea Level Current Events and Sea Level News Articles Mangrove-dependent animals globally threatened More than 40 percent of a sample of amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds that are restricted to mangrove ecosystems are globally threatened with extinction, according to an assessment published in the July/August issue of BioScience. Close relationship between past warming and sea-level rise In a paper in Nature Geoscience, a team from the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS), along with colleagues from Tübingen (Germany) and Bristol presents a novel continuous reconstruction of sea level fluctuations over the last 520 thousand years. Ice Sheets Can Retreat Modern glaciers, such as those making up the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, are capable of undergoing periods of rapid shrinkage or retreat, according to new findings by paleoclimatologists at the University at Buffalo. Climate change is already having an impact in the midwest and across the US Extreme weather, drought, heavy rainfall and increasing temperatures are a fact of life in many parts of the U.S. as a result of human-induced climate change. Study: Greenland ice sheet larger contributor to sea-level rise The Greenland ice sheet is melting faster than expected according to a new study led by a University of Alaska Fairbanks researcher and published in the journal Hydrological Processes. Bone bed tells of life along California's ancient coastline In the famed Sharktooth Hill Bone Bed near Bakersfield, Calif., shark teeth as big as a hand and weighing a pound each, intermixed with copious bones from extinct seals and whales, seem to tell of a 15-million-year-old killing ground. Height of large waves changes according to month "Anybody who observes waves can see that they are not the same height in winter and summer, but rather that their height varies over time, and we have applied a 'non- seasonal' statistical model in order to measure extreme events such as these", Fernando J. Méndez, an engineer at the Institute of Environmental Hydraulics at the University of Cantabria and co-author of a study published recently in the journal Coastal Engineering, tells SINC. Lesson from the past for surviving climate change Research led by the University of Leicester suggests people today and in future generations should look to the past in order to mitigate the worst effects of climate change. Melting Greenland Ice Sheets May Threaten Northeast United States, Canada Melting of the Greenland ice sheet this century may drive more water than previously thought toward the already threatened coastlines of New York, Boston, Halifax, and other cities in the northeastern United States and Canada. Jeepers Creepers! Climate Change Threatens Endangered Honeycreepers As climate change causes temperatures to increase in Hawaii's mountains, deadly non-native bird diseases will likely also creep up the mountains, invading most of the last disease-free refuges for honeycreepers - a group of endangered and remarkable birds. More Sea Level Current Events and Sea Level News Articles |
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