This is the 33rd issuance of the annual assessment now known as State of the Climate, published in the Bulletin since 1996. As a supplement to the Bulletin, its foremost function is to document the status and trajectory of many components of the climate system. However, as a series, the …
A new assessment from Europe's CryoSat spacecraft shows Greenland to be losing about 375 cu km of ice each year. Added to the discharges coming from Antarctica, it means Earth's two big ice sheets are now dumping roughly 500 cu km of ice in the oceans annually. "The contribution of …
This study focuses on the present-day surface elevation of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. Based on 3 years of CryoSat-2 data acquisition we derived new elevation models (DEMs) as well as elevation change maps and volume change estimates for both ice sheets. Here we present the new DEMs and …
he largest uncertainty in projections of future sea-level change results from the potentially changing dynamical ice discharge from Antarctica. Basal ice-shelf melting induced by a warming ocean has been identified as a major cause for additional ice flow across the grounding line. Here we attempt to estimate the uncertainty range …
NASA estimates the glaciers in the Amundsen Sea region contain enough water to raise global sea levels by 4 feet (1.2 meters) and in May said the glacier melt may have become “unstoppable.” Antarctica glaciers melting because of global warming may push up sea levels faster than previously believed, potentially …
Climate modelers from the University of New Hampshire have shown that the most likely explanation for the initiation of Antarctic glaciation during a major climate shift 34 million years ago was decreased carbon dioxide (CO2) levels. The finding counters a 40-year-old theory suggesting massive rearrangements of Earth's continents caused global …
Industrial pollution had reached the South Pole 20 years before man had set foot on to it, confirmed a study on lead pollution over the southernmost continent in Earth. The first men to arrive at the South Pole were Roald Amundsen, Norwegian explorer, and Robert Falcon Scott, an Englishman, in …
The world's most accurate and precise reconstruction of lead pollution over the Earth's southernmost continent has confirmed that dangerous industrial pollution reached the South Pole over two decades before man set foot on it. Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole in December of …
The first lead pollution in Antarctica occurred as a result of industrial emissions more than 20 years before explorers reached the South Pole, scientists have discovered. Norwegian Roald Amundsen became the first man to set foot on the pole in December 1911 - followed a month later by Britain's Captain …
Interior Antarctica is among the most remote places on Earth and was thought to be beyond the reach of human impacts when Amundsen and Scott raced to the South Pole in 1911. Here we show detailed measurements from an extensive array of 16 ice cores quantifying substantial toxic heavy metal …
Antarctic sea ice may not be expanding as rapidly previously thought - with much of the increase potentially down to a data error, scientists have said. While Arctic sea ice has been melting significantly in recent years, satellite observations suggest sea ice cover in the southern hemisphere has been increasing …
The globe is on a hot streak, setting a heat record in June after it also broke the record for May. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Monday that last month's average global temperature was 16.2C (61.2F), which is 0.7C higher than the 20th-century average. It beat …
For the first time, researchers have counted all the world's Adélie penguins—a sprightly seabird considered a bellwether of climate change—and discovered that millions of them are thriving in and around Antarctica. Rather than declining as feared due to warming temperatures that altered their habitats in some areas, the Adélie population …
Shifting winds are dragging warm water currents around the Antarctic coastline forcing ice to melt and sea levels to rise twice as faster than previously thought, according to new Australian research revealed on Tuesday. Scientists from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) found the warm water can be 4 …
Sea levels may rise much faster than predicted because climate models have failed to account for the disruptive effects of stronger westerly winds, Australian-led research has found. Recent studies of Antarctica have suggested the giant glaciers of West Antarctica may have begun an irreversible melting that will raise sea levels …
Global warming will cut Antarctica's 600,000-strong emperor penguin population by at least a fifth by 2100 as the sea ice on which the birds breed becomes less secure, a study found on Sunday. The report urged governments to list the emblematic birds as endangered, and to better protect their habitat. …
Climate change has been projected to affect species distribution and future trends of local populations but projections of global population trends are rare. We analyse global population trends of the emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri), an iconic Antarctic top predator, under the influence of sea ice conditions projected by coupled climate …
Global warming will cut Antarctica's 600,000-strong emperor penguin population by at least a fifth by 2100 as the sea ice on which the birds breed becomes less secure, a study said on Sunday. The report urged governments to list the birds as endangered, even though populations in 45 known colonies …
This fifth edition of Global Strategic Trends (GST 5) aims to describe possible futures to provide a strategic context for policy- and decision-makers across Government. Thirteen broad thematic areas have been identified, with eight geographic regions and a section on space. Some trends (most notably those relating to economics, religion, …
Thwaites Glacier is one of the West Antarctica's most prominent, rapidly evolving, and potentially unstable contributors to global sea level rise. Uncertainty in the amount and spatial pattern of geothermal flux and melting beneath this glacier is a major limitation in predicting its future behavior and sea level contribution. In …
Antarctica is widely regarded as one of the planet's last true wildernesses, insulated from threat by its remoteness and declaration as a natural reserve dedicated to peace and science. However, rapidly growing human activity is accelerating threats to biodiversity. We determined how well the existing protected-area system represents terrestrial biodiversity …
