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East Antarctic Ice Sheet Grows, but Sea Level Still Rising
Written by SerenaStargazer
Tuesday, 31 May 2005
The interior of the east Antarctic ice sheet, the world’s largest mass of ice, has accumulated an extra 450 billion tons and risen by almost two centimeters over the past decade, according to new satellite radar measurements. Curt Davis of the University of Missouri in Columbia says that the thickening of the ice is due to increased snowfall, probably because of global warming. Although the interior of the ice sheet is growing thicker, there is evidence that more ice at the edge of the ice sheet is crashing into the ocean. The ice on the Antarctic peninsula and the west Antarctic ice sheet are also melting.

The thickening of the east Antarctic sheet may be reducing the net increase in sea level by 0.12 millimeters a year. However, it is estimated that melting Greenland ice is raising the sea level by 0.20 millimeters a year, and the melting of the west Antarctic sheet is increasing the sea level by another 0.16 millimeters. So the east Antarctic sheet’s thickening is not enough to counteract the overall rise in sea level.
 
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