A group of scientists has claimed that some regions of Antarctica are gaining crank as a answer of snowfall 10,000 years ago – but the rate is decreasing such that in simple decades , it may switch to an one-year net loss of ice .
In the sketch , write in theJournal of Glaciologyand led by Jay Zwally of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , it’sexplainedthat the rate of step-up inland compare to decrease at the coastal part is resulting in a net gain . This is in contrast to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ’s ( IPCC)2013 report , which says the loss is already happening .
" We ’re basically in accord with other studies that show an increase in deoxyephedrine discharge in the Antarctic Peninsula and the Thwaites and Pine Island part of west Antarctica , " Zwally said in astatement . “ Our chief disagreement is for east Antarctica and the interior of west Antarctica – there , we see an ice amplification that exceeds the exit in the other areas . ”
Zwally and his co - authors compared satellite notice of the height of the Antarctic crank sheets from 1992 to 2001 and 2003 to 2008 . During the earlier menstruation the continent put on a net 112 billion long ton of ice a class , plus or minus 61 billion stacks . After 2003 , however , the newspaper reports gains of 136 billion tons per year in eastern Antarctica and 72 billion net ton in four drainage systems in western Antarctic that surpass loss of 97 billion tons a year from three coastal drain systems and 29 billion tons from the Antarctic Peninsula .
The net effect is an extra 82 billion tons of ice a year from 2003 to 2008 , with an uncertainty of 25 billion tons , importantly less than the annual gain between 1992 and 2001 .
former studies ascribe upgrade in Antarctica ’s central plateaus to late snowfall yet to condense to solid ice . However , Zwally found evidence these areas have been building up for a millennium , and the late seasons have not been peculiarly snow-covered .
“ At the death of the last Ice Age , the air became affectionate and carried more wet across the continent , doubling the amount of snow dropped on the ice sheet , ” Zwallysaid .
The IPCC ’s 2013 report , summarising legion studies , conclude that overall Antarctica is mislay ice to the oceans . This late subject area , however , suggests that something else has stimulate thewell shew ascension in oceanheight over the last two decades , and that when the reversal of chalk growth does eventually happen , the rise could be speed .
“ If the 0.27 millimeters [ 0.01 inches ] per year of sea storey rise attributed to Antarctica in the IPCC paper is not really coming from Antarctica , there must be some other contribution to sea level rising that is not accounted for , ” said Zwally .
Indeed , the 30 billion gross ton simplification in annual ice accumulation between the two period is unlikely to be a good luck . rather , the authors expect the loss of ice from coastal expanse to accelerate until , in roughly 20 days ' time , it overtake the build - up inland .
“ The new field highlights the difficulty of measure out the small change in ice height occur in East Antarctica , ” Ben Smith , a glaciologist with the University of Washington in Seattle who was not involved in Zwally ’s study , sum up in thestatement .
