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Shrinking glaciers behind a third of sea-level rise

Agence France-PresseMay 16, 2013 18:01
Water from the world's shrinking glaciers was responsible for almost a third of the rise in sea levels between 2003 and 2009, new research showed Thursday. A study published in the journal Science revealed that researchers had analyzed data gleaned from two NASA satellites as well as traditional ground measurements from glaciers around the world. "For the first time, we've been able to very precisely constrain how much these glaciers as a whole are contributing to sea rise," said Alex Gardner, assistant geography professor at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.

UN sounds alarm over record Arctic ice melt

Agence France-PresseMay 2, 2013 05:31
The Arctic's sea ice melted at a record pace in 2012, the ninth-hottest year on record, compounding concerns about climate change underscored by extreme weather such as Hurricane Sandy, the UN weather agency said Thursday. In a report on the situation in 2012, the World Meterological Organisation said that during the August to September melting season, the Arctic's sea ice cover was just 3.4 million square kilometres (1.32 million square miles) -- a full 18 percent less than the previous record low set in 2007. jwf/nl/boc

Antarctic summer ice melting 10 times faster

April 15, 2013 02:15
Summer ice in the Antarctic is melting 10 times quicker than it was 600 years ago, with the most rapid melt occurring in the last 50 years, a joint Australian-British study showed Monday. A research team from the Australian National University and the British Antarctic Survey drilled a 364-metre (1,194 feet) long ice core from James Ross Island in the continent's north to measure past temperatures in the area. Visible layers in the ice core indicated periods when summer snow on the ice cap thawed and then refroze.

Antarctic summer ice melting 10 times faster

April 14, 2013 22:30
Summer ice in the Antarctic is melting 10 times quicker than it was 600 years ago, with the most rapid melt occurring in the last 50 years, a joint Australian-British study showed Monday. A research team from the Australian National University and the British Antarctic Survey drilled a 364-metre (1,194 feet) long ice core from James Ross Island in the continent's north to measure past temperatures in the area. Visible layers in the ice core indicated periods when summer snow on the ice cap thawed and then refroze.

Study: Seas freeze more off Antarctica

April 3, 2013 11:48
Global warming is expanding the extent of sea ice around Antarctica in winter in a paradoxical shift caused by cold plumes of summer melt water that refreeze fast when temperatures drop, a study has showed.

Twenty stuck on Latvian ice floe, 200 rescued: official

March 29, 2013 10:45
Around 200 people, mostly ice fishermen, were rescued from two drifting ice floes in the Gulf of Riga on Friday, with another 20 still stranded, national rescue services said, dismissing earlier reports that 500 people were at risk. "In all there were around 180 people trapped on the ice at Vakarbulli and 40 at Majori" both towns in the Gulf of Riga, Viktorija Sembele, a State Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman told AFP, adding that all but 20 people had been rescued and no serious injuries were reported.

Reuters Science News Summary

March 8, 2013 09:31
Following is a summary of current science news briefs. Russian scientists may have found new life under Antarctic ice MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian scientists believe they have discovered new life forms sealed off for millions of years in a subglacial lake deep under the Antarctic ice, the RIA news agency reported on Thursday. After more than a decade of stop-and-go drilling, Russia pierced through Antarctica's frozen crust last year and took back samples of water from a vast lake that has lain untouched for at least 14 million year.

Reuters Science News Summary

March 8, 2013 01:31
Following is a summary of current science news briefs. Russian scientists may have found new life under Antarctic ice MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian scientists believe they have discovered new life forms sealed off for millions of years in a subglacial lake deep under the Antarctic ice, the RIA news agency reported on Thursday. After more than a decade of stop-and-go drilling, Russia pierced through Antarctica's frozen crust last year and took back samples of water from a vast lake that has lain untouched for at least 14 million year.

Greenland ice less vulnerable than feared to thaw - study

January 23, 2013 16:00
By Environment Correspondent Alister Doyle OSLO, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Greenland is less vulnerable than expected to a runaway melt that would drive up world sea levels, according to scientists who found that only a quarter of the ice sheet thawed in a warm period more than 100,000 years ago. The study, involving 300 experts from 14 nations, implied that Antarctica at the other end of the planet would contribute at least as much or more to the kind of sea level rise that threatens coasts and cities from Mumbai to Miami.
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