Antarctic Ice Sheet Shrinking
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Written by SerenaStargazer
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Sunday, 05 March 2006 |
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Researchers at the University of Colorado, Boulder, using data from the NASA/German Aerospace Centre Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) have concluded that from April 2002 to August 2005, Antarctica's ice sheet decreased by about 152 cubic kilometres annually.
Most of the mass loss came from the West Antarctic ice sheet. The estimated loss was enough to raise global sea level about 1.2 millimetres during the study period. That is about the amount of water the United States consumers in three months. It represents a change of about 0.4 millimetres per year to global sea level rise. |
Space News