The melt season on the Antarctic Peninsula has been getting much longer over the last 60 years, at some locations doubling in length according to the research lead by Dr Nick Barrand of the British Antarctic Survey.
Increased melting season increases the melting stress of ice shelves which hold back significant glacier discharge and sea level rise.
The Antarctic Peninsula is a mountainous region that extends north from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet towards South America. The area is warming much faster than the rest of Antarctica at around 3 times the global average, although the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) also appears to be rapidly warming according to measurements at Byrd polar station. Temperatures have risen by up to 3 oC since the 1950s. The warming has been linked to a strengthening of local westerly winds, causing warmer air from the sea to be pushed up and over the peninsula.
- Antarctic Peninsula summer melt season extending
- Impact of warming on penguins and marine ecosystem
- Invasion of the King Crabs
Related: Real Climate - Antarctic Peninsula warming: natural variability or "global warming"?
