Some extra snow in Antarctica has helped the earthly concern avoid nearly a half inch of ocean level rise this last century , per a fresh study . That might not sound like much , but when entire communities aregetting swallowedby the sea , every inch counts .
Still , this increase in snow is not enough to stave off the sea floor rise occur around the world . The ice Antarctica uprise as a result of the blow makes up a mere third of what the continent is losing , the studypublished in Nature Climate Change earlier this calendar month notes . The South Pole needs manner more snow to solve its riddle .
“ snow plays a critical part in Antarctic pile balance , and it will continue to do so in the future , ” said lead source Brooke Medley , a glaciologist at NASA ’s Goddard Space Flight Center , in a press handout . “ presently it is help mitigate ice loss , but it ’s not entirely compensating for them . ”
The squad of NASA scientist behind this study break down 53 frappe centre collected across Antarctica . They paired these cores with clime models to estimate snowfall over the entire continent and found that between 1900 and 2000 accretion increased by approximately 0.04 in per X .
The findings affirm and add to the result of a study conscientious objector - author Elizabeth Thomas ledearlierthis year , which feel snowfall has increase about 10 per centum across Antarctica since the 19th one C .
“ Antarctica is huge so a little snow can make a big dispute , ” said Robin Bell , a geophysicist at Columbia University ’s Earth Institute not involve in the study , in an email to Earther
The research is n’t just surprising , Bell said . A warmer atmosphere can control more moisture and precede to more snow , meaning the same thing melting Earth ’s ice is likely behind this recent tendency . Bell ’s all about seeing the brighter side here .
“ [ It ’s ] so decent to bang that we can see the extra nose candy and know that the 100 - twelvemonth [ sea stratum ] acclivity in New York of 28 centimeters would have been 1 centimeter higher , ” she said .
AntarcticaScience
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