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Scientists have been wondering what effects global warming might have on the Antarctic. Will more large icebergs be formed, and will the polar ice begin to melt? I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.
Ambience: ice melt
We’re listening to the sounds of water melting from the edge of an iceberg.
“There have been an unusual number of large icebergs that have broken away from the Antarctic ice sheet in the last few years, but, we do not believe that this relates, in any way, to a global warming signal.”
Stanley Jacobs is a senior staff associate at the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory.
“One of the expectations of global warming is that it will be amplified in the polar regions. That warming over Antarctica is still, probably, not enough to significantly increase the surface melting of the ice sheet.”
“More likely, the atmospheric warming will be associated with an increased transport of moisture within the atmosphere. That moisture will result in an increase in precipitation on the Antarctic continent. Global warming may, in fact, cause an increase in the size of the Antarctic ice sheet rather than a decrease.”
Our thanks to John Adams for the iceberg recording. Pulse of the Planet is presented by DuPont, makers of better things for better living.
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