How long do you think the polar icecaps will remain?
Polar ice is melting at such an alarming rate the rest of the world can’t help but feel the heat, reports Marian Wilkinson. Before the summer heatwave hit Australia in January, climate scientists around the world were already turning their attention in our direction. The popular belief that Antarctica might be resistant to global warming was punctured with new research based on data from satellites and weather stations, confirming that for the past 50 years, much of the continent has been warming at the same rate as the rest of the planet. Antarctica is split into two huge ice sheets: east and west, separated by mountains. Because the Eastern Antarctic ice sheet has been extremely cold and stable, many believed it would hold down temperatures across the vast continent. But the new data found West Antarctica has been warming faster than previously believed, “meaning that on average the continent has gotten warmer”, says Eric Steig, professor of earth and space sciences at the University
