Study: Antarctic glaciers retreating
Most of the 244 marine glaciers on the Antarctic peninsula are in retreat because of global warming, researchers say. Images: Giant iceberg strikes Antarctica
An in-depth of all 244 marine glaciers on the west side of the fingerlike peninsula pointing up to South America found that 87 percent of them were in retreat--and that the speed is rising. The study was conducted over the past half century using aerial photographs.
Iceberg strikes
Antarctica
"Regional warming is the strongest single factor in this retreat, and there is growing evidence that this is due to global warming," scientist David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey, or BAS, told a news conference.
"The (peninsula) could end up looking like the Alps if the glaciers retreat far enough from the sea," he said.
Fellow BAS researcher Alison Cook, who spent three years studying thousands of old aerial photographs, said they clearly showed a general glacial retreat that has accelerated sharply in the past five years.
Scientists have noted before the shrinkage and breakup of some of Antarctica's giant sea ice shelves, but the new study is the first comprehensive look over a long period at the state of the glaciers that flow into the sea.
Rising sea levels
Scientists have predicted that global temperatures could rise by up to two degrees centigrade this century, pushing the planet into the unknown with rising sea levels and an increase in extreme weather events threatening millions of lives.
Most of them agree that human activities that produce greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide contribute to this global warming--although there is deep disagreement over the degree. Carbon dioxide is emitted by burning fossil fuels in cars, power plants and factories.
Vaughan said that the average temperature over the peninsula had risen two degrees in the past 50 years--far more than on the rest of the giant continent--but that the reasons were unclear. He refused to speculate on the degree to which mankind is to blame.
"This is just one piece of the million-piece jigsaw of how climate change is affecting the planet," he said.
He said the study, which was published in the journal Science, is unique, since there is no series of aerial pictures dating back that far for the rest of Antarctica.
Alaskan glacier
meltdowns
The 212 glaciers that have been in retreat since the early 1950s have shrunk by an average of 656 yards--although one, the Widdowson Glacier, has been measured galloping backward at an alarming 1.76 miles a year.
Ted Scambos from the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center said the study's results are a warning to the world.
"It is a great bit of insight," he said. "The Antarctic (peninsula) is in a state of transition due to warming, and what is happening there is going to be a good indication of what will happen as the larger ice sheets--Greenland and Antarctica proper--begin to warm."
Story Copyright © 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.