NASA reports on Antarctic ice loss rate increase

[BenBurch]

Antarctic ice loss between 1996 and 2006, overlaid on a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) mosaic image of Antarctica. The colors indicate the speed of the ice loss. Purple/red is fast. Green is slow. Image credit: NASA

From: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/antarctica-20080123.html

PASADENA, Calif. - Ice loss in Antarctica increased by 75 percent in the last 10 years due to a speed-up in the flow of its glaciers and is now nearly as great as that observed in Greenland, according to a new, comprehensive study by NASA and university scientists.

In a first-of-its-kind study, an international team led by Eric Rignot of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and the University of California, Irvine, estimated changes in Antarctica's ice mass between 1996 and 2006 and mapped patterns of ice loss on a glacier-by-glacier basis. They detected a sharp jump in Antarctica's ice loss, from enough ice to raise global sea level by 0.3 millimeters (.01 inches) a year in 1996, to 0.5 millimeters (.02 inches) a year in 2006.

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[David Rodale]

Ben Burch,
How does an increase in ice melt in certain regions of Antarctica equate to record ice extent (since 1979) in the whole of the Southern Hemisphere?

Could volcanoes have something to do with it? Ocean currents?

Is the globe in a static state or is it dynamic with many variables which is why it is never constant?

Think about it.

 

[BenBurch]

Data does not imply causation. I am only reporting data.

 

[BenBurch]

It does appear to correlate well with the temperature map from my other post, though.

If the edges of Antarctica do indeed melt, we have a much bigger problem than we will from just Greenland melting as it most certainly is...

 

[portlandatheist]

This report is surprising to me because I always thought that global warming would actually cause MORE ice in interior Antarctica due to increased precipitation but less ice for the peninsula. From this article, it sounds like less ice is the general trend all around with only a few minor exceptions.

 

[BenBurch]

The deep interior is a desert. 50mm of snow per year or less.

 

[BenBurch]

Here is a map showing the annual snowfall rates;