A new study published in the Journal of Glaciology revealed that Antarctica, opposite to what was believed by many, is gaining ice despite the effects of global warming.
NASA Glaciologist Jay Zwally, the lead author of the study, said that the increase in the Antarctic snow began 10,000 years ago. This resulted to an accumulation of ice that added up to compensate the lost ice due to the thinning of glaciers in the eastern and central parts of Antarctica.
Newsweek, in its report, said that researchers from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the University of Maryland in College Park and Maryland-based engineering firm Sigma Space Corporation have analyzed satellite data and their findings showed that from year 1992 to 2001, Antarctica gained 112 billion tons of ice per year. It eventually slowed down from year 2003 to 2008 to 82 billion tons of ice per year. And if this rate is consistent, NASA said that it would take 20 to 30 years for the ice to melt in the continent.
"We're essentially in agreement with other studies that show an increase in ice discharge in other parts of the continent. Our main disagreement is for East Antarctica and the interior of West Antarctica; there, we see an ice gain that exceeds the losses in other areas," Zwally said.
He added, "The good news is that Antarctica is not currently contributing to sea level rise, but is taking 0.23 millimeters per year away. But this is also bad news. If the 0.27 millimeters per year of sea level rise attributed to Antarctica in the IPCC report is not really coming from Antarctica, there must be some other contribution to sea level rise that is not accounted for."
A new study, however, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences said that as a result of global warming, there is a destabilization in Antarctica which will eventually result to a collapse of the massive West Antarctic ice sheet and produce a nine-foot sea level rise all around the world.
Johannes Feldman of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the leader of the study said, "What we call the eternal ice of Antarctica unfortunately turns out not to be eternal at all. In our simulations, 60 years of melting at the presently observed rate are enough to launch a process which is then unstoppable and goes on for thousands of years. This is certainly a long process, but it's likely starting right now."
This directly contradicts the recent findings of NASA but according to scientist Ted Scambos of the National Snow and Ice Data Center (via The Inquisitr), both could actually be happening simultaneously. He said that the main difference between the two studies is that the first one was short-term while the second one was long-term.
"It is clear that further greenhouse-gas emission will heighten the risk of an ice collapse in West Antarctica and more unstoppable sea level rise. It might be something to worry about, because it would destroy our future heritage by consuming the cities we live in-unless we reduce carbon emission quickly," Scambos said, emphasizing that we must be more alarmed of the long-term trend.
