As the NSIDC and others have reported the Antarctic set a new record (since satellite records began in 1979) for extent of sea ice this past winter. The IPCC report noted that Antarctica with the possible exception of the region near the Antarctic Peninsula appeared to be stable and unlikely to show much decline and may with increased snowfall actually build snow and ice. But that hasn’t stopped the claims that the melting of Antarctica is a risk. Steve Milloy of Junk Science reports on the latest study and then looks at some actual data.

A Globe and Mail story Antarctic ice sheet shrinking at faster rate noted one of the biggest worries about global warming has been its potential to affect the stability of the Antarctic ice sheet, a vast storehouse of frozen water that would inundate the world’s coastal regions if it were to melt because of a warming climate.

But a new study presents a worrisome development: Antarctica’s ice sheet is shrinking, at a rate that increased dramatically from 1996 to 2006. In an e-mail, Dr. Rignot (the study’s lead author) attributed the shrinkage in the ice sheet to an upwelling of warm waters along the Antarctic coast, which is causing some glaciers to flow more rapidly into the ocean. He suspects the trend is due to global warming, and isn’t part of a normal natural fluctuation.

Junk Science Comments:

Our guess is it’ll be at least next week before competing statistics says the Antarctic is gaining ice mass. What isn’t highlighted in this piece is that this again relies on PlayStation® climatology. Meanwhile JunkScience reader M O’R has beaten us to checking the data, pointing out that the Antarctic Peninsula (the region of alleged ice loss) shows dramatic cooling over the last year.

See full size image here

See the full Junk Science story here with more data points surrounding the peninsula and a google map link.

Icecap Note: That cooling was this year and there is no disputing as one emailer noted that warming has occurred near the Antarctic Peninsula in recent years while temperatures have been steady or cooling in the vast interior. Another email today to Icecap noted the following about the globe and mail story: “...after many paragraphs of scare mongering in the story you linked to, we have this nugget of truth in the LAST sentence in the story. “One encouraging finding from the study is that the largest ice sheet, the one covering East Antarctica, has remained relatively stable, showing a small net gain in size.” The untold fact left out of this global warming hysteria fear mongering piece of journalism is that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is about 12% the size of the East Antarctic Ice sheet. The larger, growing East Antarctic Ice Sheet contains 26 million cubic kilometers of ice. The less stable West Antarctic Ice Sheet contains 3 million cubic kilometers of ice.”