Eastern Antarctic Ice Height Growing, As Predicted By Climate Models - NYT

[hatrack]

"The eastern half of Antarctica is gaining weight, more than 45 billion tons a year, according to a new scientific study. Data from satellites bouncing radar signals off the ground show that the surface of eastern Antarctica appears to be slowly growing higher, by about 1.8 centimeters a year, as snow and ice pile up.

The gain in eastern Antarctica snow partly offsets the rise in sea level caused by the melting of ice and snow in other parts of the world. The finding also matches expectations that the earth's warming temperatures would increase the amount of moisture in the air and lead to greater snowfall over Antarctica. "It's been long predicted by climate models," said Dr. Curt H. Davis, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Missouri and the lead author of a paper that was published on the Web site of the journal Science yesterday. "This is the first observational evidence."

The accumulation occurring across 2.75 million square miles of eastern Antarctica corresponds to a gain of 45 billion tons of water a year or, equivalently, the removal of the top 0.12 millimeter of the world's oceans. "This is the only large terrestrial ice body that is likely gaining mass rather than losing it," Dr. Davis said.

The data, from two European Space Agency satellites, cover 1992 to 2003, but because the satellites do not pass directly over the South Pole, they did not provide any information for a 1,150-mile-wide circular area around the pole. Assuming that snow was falling there at the same rate seen in the rest of Antarctica, the total gain in snowfall would correspond to a 0.18-millimeter-a-year drop in sea levels."

EDIT

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/20/science/20ICE.html?pagewanted=all

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. The researchers say it's not definitely caused by global warming, though

Although the results of the satellite survey are in line with the predictions of global-warming models, the thickening of the ice sheet could still be explained by natural weather variability, warns Curt Davis of the University of Missouri, Columbia, a member of the research team.

http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050516/full/050516-10.html