page_title: Climate of Antarctica
section_title: Global warming
hierarchical_section_title: Climate of Antarctica / Global warming
caption_attribution_description: Image showing Antarctic snowmelt in various areas for the first time
context_page_description: The climate of Antarctica is the coldest on Earth. The continent is also extremely dry, averaging 166 mm of precipitation per year. Snow rarely melts on most parts of the continent, and, after being compressed, becomes the glacier ice that makes up the ice sheet. Weather fronts rarely penetrate far into the continent, because of the katabatic winds. Most of Antarctica has an ice-cap climate with very cold, generally extremely dry weather.
context_section_description: The continent-wide average surface temperature trend of Antarctica is positive – that is, the temperature is increasing – and significant at more than 0.05 °C (0.09 °F) per decade since 1957.
  The West Antarctic ice sheet has warmed by more than 0.1 °C (0.18 °F) per decade in the last 50 years, and is strongest in winter and spring. Although this is partly offset by fall cooling in East Antarctica, this effect is restricted to the 1980s and 1990s.
  Research published in 2009 found that overall the continent had become warmer since the 1950s, a finding consistent with the influence of man-made climate change. "We can't pin it down, but it certainly is consistent with the influence of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels", said NASA scientist Drew Shindell, one of the study's authors. Some of the effects could be due to natural variability, he added.
  The British Antarctic Survey, which has undertaken the majority of Britain's scientific research in the area, stated in 2009:
  West Antarctic ice loss could contribute to 1.4 metres (4 feet 7 inches) sea level rise
  Antarctica predicted to warm by around 3 °C (5.4 °F) over this century
  10% increase in sea ice around the Antarctic
  Rapid ice loss in parts of the Antarctic
  Warming of the Southern Ocean will cause changes in Antarctic ecosystem
  Hole in ozone layer, which has delayed the impact of greenhouse gas increases on Antarctica's climate
  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 (20 September 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.
  Researchers reported on 21 December 2012 in Nature Geoscience that from 1958 to 2010, the average temperature at the mile-high Byrd Station rose by 2.4 °C (4.3 °F), with warming fastest in its winter and spring. The spot, which is located in the heart of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, is one of the fastest-warming places on Earth. In 2015, the temperature showed changes but in a stable manner and the only months that have drastic change in that year are August and September. It also did show that the temperature was very stable throughout the year.
caption: 20 September 2007 NASA map showing previously un-melted snowmelt
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