Antarctic Changing Rapidly, Scientists Unsure Why (with Audio)
David Vaughan: This part of Antarctica is too cold at the moment. It doesn’t get any melting, even in the warmest summer days. So, it’s not just a question of atmospheric warming causing more melt. Actually, what we think is the cause is changes in the oceans. And the oceans, either the temperature of the water into which these glaciers are flowing or perhaps the amount of warm water that’s delivered to the edges of these glaciers may be causing a change.
It’s estimated that yearly net losses of Antarctica’s ice total about 25 billion metric tons.
David Vaughan: Recent observations of just how rapidly the West Antarctic ice sheet, and also Greenland, are changing means that we don’t at the present have enough information to make concrete predictions about how these things are going to change in the future.
Those changes, Vaughan added, could significantly add to sea level rise.
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