Climate and melting variability in Antarctica

• Published in: Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union
• Other Authors: Tedesco, Marco (author), Monaghan, Andrew (author)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Geophysical Union 2010
• Subjects: Antarctica; melting; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Greenland; The Antarctic; West Antarctica; Antarc*; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://nldr.library.ucar.edu/repository/collections/OSGC-000-000-002-150; https://doi.org/10.1029/2010EO010001

Scientists have observed large increases in melting on the Greenland Ice Sheet in recent decades. But what is happening in Antarctica? Temperature increases during the past 50–100 years have been recorded for the Antarctic Peninsula and West Antarctica. Melting over Antarctica has been monitored since 1979 using spaceborne passive microwave observations. The sign of the melting trends over Antarctica is variable at regional scales, depending on the period analyzed and on the indices used, with the continent-averaged trend being negligible.