"We're able for the first time to directly attribute warming in both the Arctic and the Antarctic to human influences," said Nathan Gillett of the University of East Anglia, in Britain, who led the study.
Evidence of global warming, caused by the release of carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the air, has been found on almost every continent on Earth. The exception was the Antarctic, which holds 90 percent of the world's ice and 70 percent of the world's fresh water.
Antarctica, about 1.4 times as large as the United States, has just 20 weather stations from which to gather data, and for this and other reasons, less has been known about the icy continent.
Scientists can see that the warmer parts of Antarctica, including the Western Antarctic and Antarctic Peninsula, which juts north toward South America and is home to millions of seals and penguins and other birds, are seeing temperature increases.
But the frigid East Antarctic, with ice 2,226 metres thick, has seen no significant change in air temperature during the past 50 years -- in fact it has shown evidence of cooling -- and this has made overall conclusions about the greenhouse gas effect inconclusive.
The Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that Antarctica was the only continent where human-caused temperature changes had not been detected, possibly due to insufficient data and observation.
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Comments: 9
Political leaders are supposed to set examples of how to behave and act in responsible ways but in America all our children from leaders is greed. The only way to punish any American is to hit them in the pocket because all Americans understand is the dollar sign.
No time to be depressed. Put pressure on the new administration and congress to actually do what they promised - move to renewable energy. A couple of sources to help in this regard:
Repower America: 100% Clean Electricity Within 10 Years
The Pickens Plan
2007 Was Tied as Earth's Second-Warmest Year
Joseph: "I just might have to stop making fun of Al Gore."
Much of the "opposition" to global warming has focused on ridiculing Al Gore. That has been an irrational and illogical reaction to one of the major issues that faces us. I'm glad you're apparently willing to look at this issue now. After all, if you have kids, you have a very large stake in making sure it is addressed - and soon!!!
I think their is plenty of evidence of warming temperatures where I live in the Northeast because our winters now match what use to be mild fall weather. We no longer have spring to enjoy we just go from a mild winter to hot summer and it has been this way for at least two decades.
Recent data show that Antarctic surface temperatures increased an average of 0.22°F (0.12°C) per decade between 1957 and 2006. That's a rise of more than 1°F (0.5°C) in the last half century. West Antarctica warmed at a higher rate, rising 0.31°F (0.17°C) per decade. While some areas of East Antarctica have been cooling in recent decades, the longer 50-year trend depicts that, on average, temperatures are rising across the continent. The results were published January 22, 2009 in Nature and are discussed in my article Antarctica is warming up.