Studies Are Saying Antarctica Is Gaining More Ice Than Losing By NASA

NASA reveals that Antarctica is currently gaining more ice than it’s losing, disputing other studies that say the continent is overall losing land ice. The gain in ice is attributed to an enhance in Antarctic snow accretion, which began 10,000 years ago. Satellite data showed that the Antarctic ice had a net gain of 112 billion tons of ice per year from 1992 to 2001.

Then slowed to 82 billion tons of ice per year during 2003 to 2008, according to the report, which was published in the Journal of Glaciology. The team calculated that the mass gain from the thickening of East Antarctica held steady at 200 billion tons per year from 1992 to 2008. Meanwhile, the losses from the coastal regions of West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula enhance by 65 billion tons per year.

NASA used its first Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) from 2003 to 2008 to measure changes in surface height. The agency announced it is launching the ICESat-2 satellite in 2018 to help continue to accurately monitor changes. According to NASA’s Global Ice Viewer, the Antarctic has gained an average of 7,300 square miles of sea ice per year since the late 1970s.

NASA said, “A warming climate is likely changing wind patterns surrounding Antarctica, which may be helping to push the sea ice northward, thus increasing the extent.” Most Antarctic sea ice completely melts during the summer as its surrounded by the southern Ocean.

Currently, sea ice in the Arctic doesn’t entirely melt during the summer, as land and islands, which contain the ice around the polar region, surround the Arctic Ocean. NASA previously announced that Antarctic sea ice enhances aren’t enough to make up for the accelerated Arctic sea ice loss of the last several decades.

Scientists ascribe this year’s extent to the effects of El Nino, whihc can bring higher sea level pressure. Higher temperatures and sea surface temperatures to the seas around West Antarctica.