Southern heat: This illustration depicts the warming that scientists have determined has occurred in West Antarctica during the last 50 years, with dark red showing the area that has warmed the most.
Credit: NASA; Credit E. J. Steig.
"When you look at the big picture on that, the average [trend in East Antarctica] is actually warming," he said.
Put together, the average temperature rise for Antarctica is put at 0.12 ºC per decade, the study said.
The work is based on a 25-year archive of observations by satellites measuring the intensity of infrared light radiated by the snow pack. These were buttressed by data from automated weather stations deployed around the Antarctic coast since 1957.
Careless statements
The paper does not venture any estimate about ice loss or predict the icesheets' stability, but says only global warming can logically explain the temperature trend.
"This shouldn't cause anyone to worry more than they did before. But what it does do is kill off the rather silly and careless statements out there from some people to the effect that Antarctica's cooling," said Steig.
Such comments "put into question all the other science that supports the idea that there is warming and it's human beings' fault," he said.
There could be bad news a few decades down the road, when efforts to fix the ozone hole bear fruit, added Steig.
Ozone hole
"The hole could be eliminated by the middle of this century. If that happens, all of Antarctica could begin warming on a par with the rest of the world," he warned.
The West Antarctic icesheet, which holds enough ice to boost global sea levels by up to six metres, lies at an average height of about 1,800 metres.
The East Antarctic icesheet, divided from West Antarctica by a mountain chain, has an average elevation of around 3,000 m, which makes it not only bigger but also colder.
If it melted in its entirety – something that most scientists discount except only as a very distant doomsday scenario – today's coastlines would be drowned to a height of 50 m.
Antarctic Project
i'm doing an antarctic project at school i am i am
yeah right
coooooooooooooooolies
Steig study a fraud
This study by Stieg is highly fraudulent. You can check out articles on wattsupwiththat.com and climateaudit.org that debunk the Steig study as having data series that were erroneous, some weather stations were buried in snow during the period (snow insulates against cold), and used flawed mathematics and methodology to fake up a warming that wasnt there.
Meanwhile, current weather forecasts at Vostok station predict -117 C temperatures, cold enough for carbon dioxide to precipitate out of the atmosphere, which normally only happens on Mars. Some 'warming'.
Doin a report
im doing a report on Global warming