A new study by NASA reveals that Antarctica is actually gaining more ice than it’s losing, which contradicts most theories about ocean warming and climate change. Could it be reversing? Researchers say not quite.
In the study a team of researchers from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the University of Maryland and Sigma Space Corporation gave fresh analysis of satellite data which shows a net gain of 112 billion tons of ice per year in Antarctic ice sheet, between 1992 and 2001. That gain just came to a slow down to 82 billion tons of ice per year between 2003 and 2008.
The researchers say this is not entirely cause for celebration, because if the rise in sea level, which had been attributed to melting ice in Antarctica and Greenland, is not connected to either region, there is another factor that is not accounted for. The study encourages more in-depth research on what this means and calls for an upgrade on measuring mechanisms to accurately draw a picture of what the situation is on the Antarctic ice sheet.
NASA plans to develop these new tools by 2018, which will help more accurately measure long term ice changes in Antarctica. The main tool is called the ICESat-2, and the agency claims it will measure changes in the ice sheet with the thickness of a No. 2 pencil.
