"If we are relying on models it is important for us to know which models to rely on," she said. "And this study gives us a benchmark on which to judge them." She said their study shows that "the lag time between temperature change and the sea level rise may not be as long as expected." By comparing the dates of sea level rises with known increases in temperature, based on studies of ice cores from the Antarctic, they have shown the ice sheets respond rapidly to global warming. It was previously believed that temperature rise preceded ice sheet melting by more than 3,000 years. "But these two variables have operated in phase for the major termination events in the past 500,000 years," the researchers write in the paper. Dutton said this suggests ice sheets are capable of responding quickly to increasing temperature and CO2. That view appears to be supported by the Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment report released this week, which suggests sea temperatures in the Southern Ocean are rising faster than in other oceans. It predicts ice melts in the Antarctic Peninsula and Western Ice Shelf will be greater and more rapid than expected, highlighting that the Antarctic Peninsula alone has decreased by 27,000 square kilometers (10,424 square miles) in the past 50 years. Related Links: |
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