Large_Al
01-10-2003, 09:03 AM
The story (http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,5791750%255E1702,00.html)
A LARGE Antarctic ice sheet is melting and could be gone in 7000 years, possibly raising worldwide sea levels by 4.8 metres, according to a new study.
Using geologic measurements to date when rocks first became free of ice, researchers have found that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet started retreating about 10,000 years ago and is still melting, said John O. Stone, first author of a study appearing in the journal Science. "There was a gradual and continuous melting," said Stone, a professor of geology at the University of Washington, Seattle.
Over thousands of years, he said, the ice had retreated at the rate of about two inches a year in a steady pattern that shows no sign of slowing.
If the West Antarctic Ice Sheet does melt entirely, he said, the global sea level could rise by as much as 4.8 metres, enough to drown some islands and coastal areas.
A LARGE Antarctic ice sheet is melting and could be gone in 7000 years, possibly raising worldwide sea levels by 4.8 metres, according to a new study.
Using geologic measurements to date when rocks first became free of ice, researchers have found that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet started retreating about 10,000 years ago and is still melting, said John O. Stone, first author of a study appearing in the journal Science. "There was a gradual and continuous melting," said Stone, a professor of geology at the University of Washington, Seattle.
Over thousands of years, he said, the ice had retreated at the rate of about two inches a year in a steady pattern that shows no sign of slowing.
If the West Antarctic Ice Sheet does melt entirely, he said, the global sea level could rise by as much as 4.8 metres, enough to drown some islands and coastal areas.