page_title: Global warming in Antarctica
section_title: 2000s
hierarchical_section_title: Global warming in Antarctica / Effects / 2000s
caption_attribution_description: Image showing Antarctic snowmelt in various areas for the first time
context_page_description: The effects of global warming in Antarctica may include rising temperatures and increasing snowmelt and ice loss. A summary study in 2018 incorporating calculations and data from many other studies estimated that total ice loss was 43 gigatons per year on average during the period from 1992 to 2002 but has accelerated to an average of 220 gigatons per year during the five years from 2012 to 2017.
context_section_description: The British Antarctic Survey, which has undertaken the majority of Britain's scientific research in the area, had the following positions in 2006:
  Ice makes cold climate-sensitive by introducing a strong positive feedbacks loop.
  Melting of continental Antarctic ice could contribute to global sea-level rise.
  Climate models predict more snowfall than ice melting during the next 50 years, but the models are not good enough for them to be confident about the prediction.
  Antarctica seems to be both warming around the edges and cooling at the center at the same time. Thus it is not possible to say whether it is warming or cooling overall.
  There is no evidence for a decline in the overall Antarctic sea ice extent.
  The central and southern parts of the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula have warmed by about 2.4 °C. The cause is not known.
  Changes have occurred in the upper atmosphere over Antarctica.
  The area of strongest cooling appears at the South Pole, and the region of strongest warming lies along the Antarctic Peninsula. A possible explanation is that loss of UV-absorbing ozone may have cooled the stratosphere and strengthened the polar vortex, a pattern of spinning winds around the South Pole. The vortex acts like an atmospheric barrier, preventing warmer, coastal air from moving into the continent's interior. A stronger polar vortex might explain the cooling trend in the interior of Antarctica. 
  In their latest study (September 20, 2007) NASA researchers have confirmed that Antarctic snow is melting farther inland from the coast over time, melting at higher altitudes than ever and increasingly melting on Antarctica's largest ice shelf.
  There is also evidence for widespread glacier retreat around the Antarctic Peninsula.
caption: September 20, 2007 NASA map showing previously un-melted snowmelt
exif: {}