Vast areas of snow in Antarctica melted in 2005, when temperatures warmed up for a week in the summer. Snow melts such as this may have ramifications for larger scale melting of the ice sheets if they are severe or sustained over time, NASA said on Tuesday.
A new analysis of satellite data showed that an area the size of California melted and then re-froze – the most significant thawing in 30 years, the US space agency said.
Duncan Wingham at University College London in the UK says the event is "notable". But he underlines that it is, for now, a single weather event and should not be confused with long-term climate change.
"If we were to start seeing this happen every single year, then we would have to say: 'Yes this [Antarctica] is not the sort of deep freeze we have been thinking'," he told New Scientist.
Unlike the Arctic, Antarctica has shown little to no warming in the recent past with the exception of the Antarctic Peninsula, where ice sheets have been breaking apart.
No comments:
Post a Comment