http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20543483
Ice melt has finally been properly measured. The results show that the largest ice sheet - that of East Antarctica - has gained mass over the study period of 1992-2011 as increased snowfall added to its volume. However, Greenland, West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula were all found to be losing mass - and on a scale that more than compensates for East Antarctica's gain. The study's headline conclusion is that the polar ice sheets have overall contributed 11.1mm to sea level rise but with a "give or take" uncertainty of 3.8mm - meaning the contribution could be as little as 7.3mm or as much as 14.9mm. Another author, Dr Hamish Pritchard of the British Antarctic Survey, said: "The next big challenge - now that we've got quite a good understanding of what's happened over the last 20 years - is to predict what will happen over the next century. "And that is going to be a tough challenge with difficult processes going on in inside the glaciers and ice sheets." Cheers: Axil On Tue, Dec 4, 2012 at 11:13 PM, Eric Walker <[email protected]> wrote: > How did this thread get so long so quickly? I'm impressed. :) > > After all of that, did anyone's views on the topic change? :) > > Eric > >
