TOPIC 'Environment' on Feb 11, 2009 (CET)
Antarctica Will Melt If Trends Continue
The threats of global warming have been dismissed by many who point to the fact that temperatures were shown to be cooling on some parts of the continent. However, don’t file your climate change concerns away just yet. Scientists in Antarctica say that some areas receiving cooling temperatures have disguised the overall continued warming of the continent.
Experts stated in a recent publication of the journal, Nature, that the warming trend is impossible to explain without linking it to the influences of manmade greenhouse gas emissions. The majority of greenhouse gas emissions come from burning fossil fuels. Scientists from the United States and detailed weather data from the region tell a story of rising sea levels. With rising sea levels comes the flooding of many homes, cities, towns, and villages. If all of Antarctica’s ice melted, it would raise sea levels by 57 meters. Even a small amount of melting can, therefore, have dire effects of island cities from London to Beijing and all across the globe.
Antarctica has 90 percent of the world’s ice. As it melts, it will raise the sea levels. Freezing temperatures have risen 0.5 Celsius from the decade of the 1950s. Average year-round temperatures for the continent range around -50 Celsius. The U.K. has a research station in Rothera, which is located on the Antarctic Peninsula below South America. Recent temperatures at the research station were shown to be 2.6 Celsius.
On the Antarctic Peninsula, 10 ice sheets have deteriorated since the 1990s alone. The famous Wilkins ice sheet is ready to disintegrate as it is held steady only by a shard of ice that is 500 meters wide, where 50 years ago it was 100 km wide.
The Antarctic Peninsula was believed to have been the place where the main source of melting was occurring. It is outlined in the scientists’ report that area is only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. The entirety of West Antarctica is warming as well. Greenland is also at risk. Between West Antarctica and Greenland, sea levels would rise 14 meters.
Why do skeptics continue to ignore well-educated and learned scholars who have devoted their lives to the study of this issue? Temperatures and weather data have been monitored by satellites for the last 25 years. Antarctic weather stations have records back 50 years. Why do people still refuse to believe?
Sherry Irvin
on behalf of the
BascoTec Internet Limited
Technologie Park 13
33100 Paderborn
Germany
