NASA captures image of Antarctic ice shelf rift that will produce an iceberg the size of Delaware

1 December 2016 (NASA) – On 10 November 2016, scientists on NASA’s IceBridge mission photographed an oblique view of a massive rift in the Antarctic Peninsula’s Larsen C ice shelf. Icebridge, an airborne survey of polar ice, completed an eighth consecutive Antarctic deployment on 18 November 2016. Ice shelves are the floating parts of ice […]

West Antarctica begins to destabilize with ‘intense unbalanced melting’

By Eric Roston25 October 2016 (Bloomberg) – If you want to see the future of New York, Tokyo, or Mumbai, look no further than West Antarctica, where a warmer sea is turning ice into water that may be headed to your doorstep. The bottom of the world has drawn increased scrutiny from scientists over the […]

Historic shrinking of Antarctic Ice Sheet linked to CO2 spike

11 October 2016 (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory) – Twenty-three million years ago, the Antarctic Ice Sheet began to shrink, going from an expanse larger than today’s to one about half its modern size. Computer models suggested a spike in carbon dioxide levels as the cause, but the evidence was elusive – until now. Ancient fossilized leaves […]

Dazzling blue lakes are forming in Antarctica, and scientists are worried

[Jim Hansen’s supralinear sea level rise scenario looks increasingly likely. –Des] By Chris Mooney 17 August 2016 (Washington Post) – In a new study, scientists who study the largest ice mass on Earth — East Antarctica — have found that it is showing a surprising feature reminiscent of the fastest melting one: Greenland. More specifically, […]

Global warming already accelerating sea level rise, study finds – ‘Accelerated sea level rise is real, and it’s ongoing’

By Laura Snider10 August 2016 BOULDER, Colorado (NCAR) – Greenhouse gases are already having an accelerating effect on sea level rise, but the impact has so far been masked by the cataclysmic 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, according to a new study led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Satellite […]

Exactly what’s wrong with the Cliff Mass approach to global warming

By Ethan Linck 22 July 2016 (The Stranger) – One Small Part of Antarctica Stayed Cool While the Rest Warmed: Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of climate change denialism is the willful idiocy of using local exceptions to a widely supported trend as evidence that trend is false. Climate science—like meteorology, biology, and political science—is […]

Global warming may shrink Adélie penguin range by end of century – ‘Penguin colonies near Palmer Station on the West Antarctic Peninsula have declined by at least 80 percent since the 1970s’

By Karen B. Roberts and Maria-Jose Viñas; editing by Karl Hille8 July 2016 (NASA) – Climate has influenced the distribution patterns of Adélie penguins across Antarctica for millions of years. The geologic record tells us that as glaciers expanded and covered Adélie breeding habitats with ice, penguins in the region abandoned their colonies. When the […]

South Pole is the last place on Earth to pass a global warming milestone: Atmospheric CO2 passed 400 ppm for the first time in 4 million years

15 June 2016 (NOAA) – The Earth passed another unfortunate milestone 23 May 2016 when carbon dioxide (CO2) surpassed 400 parts per million (ppm) at the South Pole for the first time in 4 million years. The South Pole has shown the same, relentless upward trend in CO2 as the rest of world, but its […]

Antarctic coastline images reveal four decades of ice loss to ocean – ‘Now we know this has been occurring pervasively along the coastline for almost half a century’

WASHINGTON, DC, 1 June 2016 (AGU) – Part of Antarctica has been losing ice to the ocean for far longer than had been expected, satellite pictures reveal. A study of images along 2000 kilometers (1,240 miles) of West Antarctica’s coastline has shown the loss of about 1000 square kilometers (about 390 square miles) of ice […]

New NASA web portal shines beacon on rising seas

4 April 2016 (NASA) – Sea level rise is a critical global issue affecting millions across our planet. A new Web portal developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, gives researchers, decision makers and the public alike a resource to stay up to date with the latest developments and scientific findings in this rapidly […]

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