Condensed version:
Sudden Impact Glaciers Crumble in Previously Stable Area of Antarctica - NBC News
Full report:
Sudden and Rapid Ice Loss Discovered in Antarctica
The denier meme that Antarctica is stable and growing - that it refutes the "alarmist diatribe", is crap (that's getting to be one of my favorite words). The world is getting warmer and that change is going to hurt us.
Sudden Impact Glaciers Crumble in Previously Stable Area of Antarctica - NBC News
Full report:
Sudden and Rapid Ice Loss Discovered in Antarctica
"Several massive glaciers in the southern Antarctic Peninsula suddenly started to crumble in 2009, a new study reported Thursday (May 21) in the journal Science."
"Out of the blue, it's become the second most important contributor to sea level rise in Antarctica," said lead study author Bert Wouters, a remote sensing expert and Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom."
"They found that there was no significant ice loss until 2009, when at least nine glaciers starting thinning. Some of the glaciers are now shrinking by as much as 13 feet (4 m) each year, the study reported. The drawdown also reached some 62 miles (100 km) inland from the coast."
"In all, the southern Antarctica Peninsula added about 80 trillion gallons (300 trillion liters) of water to the ocean between 2009 and 2014, the researchers said. If melted completely, the thinning glaciers would raise sea level another 14 inches (35 centimeters), Wouters said."
From the full report: "Also, between 2003 and 2009, the ice loss in the southern Antarctica Peninsula was balanced out by extra snowfall, said Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, who was not involved in the study. Now, the thinning has outpaced the snowfall.
"We're seeing enough mass loss to more than make up for that snow accumulation," Scambos told Live Science."
"Out of the blue, it's become the second most important contributor to sea level rise in Antarctica," said lead study author Bert Wouters, a remote sensing expert and Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom."
"They found that there was no significant ice loss until 2009, when at least nine glaciers starting thinning. Some of the glaciers are now shrinking by as much as 13 feet (4 m) each year, the study reported. The drawdown also reached some 62 miles (100 km) inland from the coast."
"In all, the southern Antarctica Peninsula added about 80 trillion gallons (300 trillion liters) of water to the ocean between 2009 and 2014, the researchers said. If melted completely, the thinning glaciers would raise sea level another 14 inches (35 centimeters), Wouters said."
From the full report: "Also, between 2003 and 2009, the ice loss in the southern Antarctica Peninsula was balanced out by extra snowfall, said Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, who was not involved in the study. Now, the thinning has outpaced the snowfall.
"We're seeing enough mass loss to more than make up for that snow accumulation," Scambos told Live Science."