Most of Antarctica Cooling, Ice Increasing

Red area is warming, rest is cooling, net ice increasing.

You read that right. Recent news makes it sound as if all of the antarctic sea ice is breaking up and drifting off to melt. Not true, according to recent ice core samples and temperature measurements.

“Ice is expanding in much of Antarctica, contrary to the widespread public belief that global warming is melting the continental ice cap.

The results of ice-core drilling and sea ice monitoring indicate there is no large-scale melting of ice over most of Antarctica, although experts are concerned at ice losses on the continent’s western coast…

However, the picture is very different in east Antarctica, which includes the territory claimed by Australia.

East Antarctica is four times the size of west Antarctica and parts of it are cooling. The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research report prepared for last week’s meeting of Antarctic Treaty nations in Washington noted the South Pole had shown “significant cooling in recent decades.”

Australia Antarctic Division glaciology program head Ian Allison said sea ice losses in west Antarctica over the past 30 years had been more than offset by increases in the Ross Sea region, just one sector of east Antarctica.”

Well, with enough cap and trade, perhaps we can turn the Americas and Australia into frozen deserts too.