. 24/7 Space News .
ICE WORLD
Will more snow over Antarctica offset rising seas
by Staff Writers
Seattle WA (SPX) May 20, 2016


Lead author T.J. Fudge inside a snow pit at the West Antarctic field site in 2011, at the completion of the 5-year drilling project. Image courtesy University of Washington. For a larger version of this image please go here.

Many factors related to warming will conspire to raise the planet's oceans over coming decades - thermal expansion of the world's oceans, melting of snow and ice worldwide, and the collapse of massive ice sheets.

But there are a few potential brakes. One was supposed to be heavier snowfall over the vast continent of Antarctica. Warmer air will hold more moisture and thus generate more snow to fall inland and slightly rebuild the glacier, according to climate model projections. Not so fast, says a University of Washington study published in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. The authors looked at evidence from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide ice core to get a first clear look at how the continent's snowfall has varied over 31,000 years.

"It's allowed us to look at the snow accumulation back in time in much more detail than we've been able to do with any other deep ice core in Antarctica," said lead author T.J. Fudge, a UW postdoctoral researcher in Earth and space sciences. "We show that warmer temperatures and snowfall sometimes go together, but often they don't."

For example, the record includes periods before 8,000 years ago, as Earth was coming out of its last ice age, when the air temperature went up by several degrees without any boost in the amount of snowfall.

"Our results make it clear that we cannot have confidence in projections of future snowfall over Antarctica under global warming," said co-author Eric Steig, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences.

The plateau of East Antarctica, the site of most previous ice cores, is relatively high and dry. About 80 percent of the continent's precipitation falls on the lower, stormier edges, like where this core was drilled in 2006-2011. (To prepare scientists for conditions during a West Antarctic snowstorm, Fudge notes, researchers had to practice navigating outside with a bucket over their heads.)

The 2.1-mile, or 3.5-kilometer, ice core preserves climate history in enough detail to show individual snow years. Many climate models predict that warming temperatures will mean more snow in Antarctica in the future. When more snow falls inland at the upper edge of the flowing ice sheet, it counteracts mass lost to melting or calving at the edges. This extra snowfall would reverse 2 to 4 centimeters, or about 1 inch, of global sea-level rise by 2100, researchers said.

"It's not a huge component," Fudge acknowledges, "but if you live close to sea level, centimeters certainly matter." The new study, however, shows that temperature is an unreliable predictor of Antarctic snowfall.

"Depending on what part of the record you look at, you can draw different conclusions," Fudge said. "During some of the more abrupt climate changes, from when we had ice sheets to our current climate state, there's actually no relationship between temperature and snowfall."

The large variation seen in the historical record probably reflects shifts in atmospheric patterns and how storm tracks reach Antarctica, Fudge said. Research is increasingly showing that winds play a big role in Antarctic temperature, sea ice and weather patterns, especially on shorter timescales, and that the gale-force winds that whip around the continent are connected to weather patterns in the tropics.

"For sea-level rise, we're not really interested in what happens over thousands of years," Fudge said. "We're interested in what happens over the next few hundred years. At that shorter timescale, the variability in how the storms reach the continent matters much more than a few degrees of warming."

The snowfall record may help to understand how winds affect Antarctic weather, and how atmospheric connections with the tropics influence the amount of relatively warm ocean water that laps at the frozen continent's edge.

"By getting models to better capture the variability in our snowfall record, we actually will get a better idea of how the warm ocean is going to interact with the ice sheets at the edge, and those will have an even bigger impact on sea level, eventually," Fudge said.

The study, published online April 28, 2016 was funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA. Other co-authors are UW doctoral student Bradley Markle; UW faculty members Edwin Waddington, Howard Conway and Michelle Koutnik; Kurt Cuffrey at the University of California, Berkeley; Christo Buizert at Oregon State University; and Kendrick Taylor at Nevada's Desert Research Institute.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
University of Washington
Beyond the Ice Age






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

Previous Report
ICE WORLD
What lies beneath West Antarctica
Washington DC (SPX) May 06, 2016
Three recent publications by early career researchers at three different institutions across the country provide the first look into the biogeochemistry, geophysics and geology of Subglacial Lake Whillans, which lies 800 meters (2,600 feet) beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The findings stem from the Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) project funded by the Nati ... read more


ICE WORLD
NASA research gives new insights into how the Moon got inked

First rocket made ready for launch at Vostochny spaceport

Supernova iron found on the moon

Russia to shift all Lunar launches to Vostochny Cosmodrome

ICE WORLD
The rise and fall of Martian lakes

Opportunity microscopic imaging camera back to normal operations

Second cycle of Martian seasons completing for Curiosity Rover

Flying observatory detects atomic oxygen in Martian atmosphere

ICE WORLD
Out of this world: 'Moon and Mars veggies' grow in Dutch greenhouse

NASA Invests in Next Stage of Visionary Technology Development

NASA makes dozens of patents available in public domain

Pentagon's research agency showcases future tech

ICE WORLD
Long March-7 rocket delivered to launch site

China's space technology extraordinary, impressive says Euro Space Center director

China can meet Chile's satellite needs: ambassador

China launches Kunpeng-1B sounding rocket

ICE WORLD
ISS completes 100,000th orbit of Earth: mission control

Canadian astronaut to join ISS in 2018

NASA, Space Station partners announce future mission crew members

New landing date for ESA astronaut Tim Peake

ICE WORLD
Pre-launch processing is underway with Indonesia's BRIsat for the next Arianespace heavy-lift flight

New Antares Rocket Rolls Out at NASA Wallops

First work platforms powered tested in VAB for Space Launch System

SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship splashes down in Pacific

ICE WORLD
Star Has Four Mini-Neptunes Orbiting in Lock Step

Exoplanets' Orbits Point to Planetary Migration

Synchronized planets reveal clues to planet formation

Kepler space telescope finds another 1284 exo planets

ICE WORLD
Scientists take a major leap toward a 'perfect' quantum metamaterial

UW team first to measure microscale granular crystal dynamics

Self-healing, flexible electronic material restores functions after many breaks

Digital "clone" testing aims to maximize machine efficiency









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.