Wintertime Antarctic sea ice has been increasing at a small rate and with substantial natural year-to-year variability.
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Even if wintertime Antarctic sea ice were to increase or decrease significantly in the future, it would not have a huge impact on the climate system, according to the Center.
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In reply, Dr Toepfer said analysis of whaling records and modelling studies showed that Antarctic sea ice had retreated south by 2.8 degrees of latitude between the mid 1950s and the early 1970s.
Climate scientists have been intrigued by observations that Antarctic sea ice shows a small but statistically significant expansion of about 1.9% per decade since 1985, while sea ice in the Arctic has been shrinking over past decades.
The Antarctic Peninsula sea ice expanse is nearly 200% greater now than usual.
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But there are other plausible explanations for Antarctic sea-ice expansion.
She had travelled to the Arctic and the Antarctic to study the sea ice.
The extent of sea ice in the Antarctic has been relatively stable in recent years (unlike in the Arctic), although this picture hides some fairly large regional variations.
Mechanisms on the verge of being instigated include loss of Arctic sea ice, shrinkage of the Greenland ice sheet, loss of Antarctic ice shelves, and shrinkage of the Antarctic ice sheets.
Cryosat-2 will measure very precisely the rates of change of sea and land ice in the Arctic and the Antarctic.
Satellite images have revealed that three massive icebergs have been calved from the Ronne Ice Shelf in the Weddell Sea on the Antarctic coast.
During the Holocene, the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have been relatively stable, as reflected in the stability of the sea level.
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