GLOBAL WARMING

Glacial Melting Has Tripled In Past Decade

Shedding Mt. Everest proportions of water weight.

According to a study from the University of California at Irvine and NASA, the glacial masses in West Antarctica are diminishing three times and fast as the previous decade. It is proving to be the most significant Antarctic contributions to the rise in sea levels and increasing as “an amazing rate,” according to Isabella Velicogna, a scientist affiliated with the study. “Previous studies had suggested that this region is starting to change very dramatically since the 1990s, and we wanted to see how all the different techniques compared,” lead author and doctoral candidate at UCI Tyler Sutterley said. “The remarkable agreement among the techniques gave us confidence that we are getting this right.” According to their metrics, Antarctic glaciers have lost an amount of water weight equal to Mt. Everest every two years for the past two decades. The data is used to aid in predicting future sea levels.