Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

RiverLover

(7,830 posts)
Thu Nov 5, 2015, 11:05 AM Nov 2015

Three lessons from that Antarctic ice study

Three lessons from that Antarctic ice study

A satellite study that found Antarctica is gaining ice contrasts previous findings.
By Lonnie Shekhtman, Staff November 4, 2015

Research from retired NASA Goddard Space Flight Center scientist H. Jay Zwally made headlines this week for finding that – contrary to popular belief – Antarctica is gaining more ice than it’s losing ... for now. But Dr. Zwally warned in a NASA announcement that, “It could take only a few decades for the ice melt in Antarctica to outweigh the ice gains.” Zwally didn’t dispute that sea levels are rising, telling The Christian Science Monitor in an interview, it’s “definitive, there’s no question about that." But they’re not rising because of ice melt on Antarctica, he says.

.....snip........Some scientists, like Ted Scambos, senior researcher at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., say that ICESat data is inaccurate.

There’s no real way to reconcile this paper with the finding of half a dozen labs using the GRACE satellite, which consistently indicate that Antarctica is losing mass overall,” he points out in an e-mail to the Monitor.

....snip......the lessons~

1. Measuring land ice in Antarctica is hard........

2. Sea levels are rising Sea levels are rising at double the rate (3.2 millimeters per year) of the 20th century, UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says. And it’s “virtually certain” that this trend will continue for many centuries.

Up until this century, ice melt on land has made only a small impact on sea level rise. About two-thirds of it has come from thermal expansion, or ocean that’s heating up from a warmer climate and causing the water to expand, according to Julien P. Nicolas, an atmospheric scientist at Ohio State University.....

3. The globe is still warming....

Full story~
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/1104/Three-lessons-from-that-Antarctic-ice-study


Unfortunately, most sites have headlines like this, regarding "that study"~

MELTDOWN MYTH: Antarctic ice growing is just the first EVIDENCE global warming is NOT REAL
http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/617144/Antarctica-not-shrinking-growing-ice-caps-melting

idiots..
Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Environment & Energy»Three lessons from that A...