New research, published in the latest issue of Nature Geoscinece, reveals that the Antarctic ice has been melting faster over the past 50 years, compared with records from the previous 600.
Researchers from the Australian National University and the British Antarctic Survey presented new evidence that shows the implications of global warming on the vulnerable Antarctic regions.
The team led by Nerilie Abram, used ice core data from 364 meters depth in the area of James Ross Island. They gathered information on historical temperatures and used them to establish trends and detect changes in summer ice melt levels.
The findings indicate that once a certain threshold in temperature raise is reached, melting intensifies. This was proven by the fact that although temperatures have been increasing steadily over the past 600 years, in the past 50 years, melting has occurred 10 times faster.
According to Robert Mulvaney, a researcher at the British Antarctic Survey, the faster glacier ice loss as well as some of the major collapses from the Antarctic ice shelf in the past half century, have been due to this intensified ice melts.
