Surprise – east Antarctica is melting, too
November 23rd, 2009 by Jim JustContrary to what scientists have previously thought, the ice sheet covering east Antarctica has been melting since 2006.
That’s what researchers at the University of Texas report in a new study published in Nature Geoscience. While previous studies have generally used satellites to measure elevation or movement of ice, the researchers instead looks at the Earth’s gravity field to calculate the amount of ice present. They found that east Antarctica is losing mass at about 58 gigatonnes a year since 2006, with most of the loss coming from coastal regions. Their work suggests that Antarctica is losing 190 Gt per year, with 132 Gt of the total annual ice loss coming from west Antarctica.
The study’s authors conclude with a warning: “as a whole, Antarctica may soon be contributing significantly more to global sea-level rise” than previously estimated.