Illustration courtesy Jesse Allen, EO/NASA/NSIDC
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Written By:
Daniel Stone
National Geographic News
Published October 13, 2012
There are many stories and articles concerning global warming, glacier melting, and things of that sort of doomsday nature. However,during Southern Hemisphere winters, sea ice in the Antarctic, the floating chunks of frozen ocean water, is actually increasing. In in late September, satellite data revealed that Antarctica was surrounded by the greatest area of sea ice ever recorded in the region: 7.51 million square miles (19.44 million square kilometers), the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center announced Thursday.
The reason the ice in the Antarctic is not decreasing is because it it cooler than the rest of the world (haha no pun intended). It's warming up but not as fast as other places are, which causes the winds around Antarctica to move a bit faster. The depletion of the ozone in the stratosphere above the Antarctic also acts as a factor to add to the cooling region.
This may seem like good news, but it's simply just consistent with human understanding of a warming world. Although the Antarctic is warming up, the rate of heating is extremely slow, so we as people can sleep safe and sound tonight with no worries (for now).
- Andrew
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