Ice Melting Faster in Greenland and Antarctica in UN Leak
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-05/ice-melting-faster-in-greenland-and-antarctica-in-un-leak.html
Ice in Antarctica and Greenland is disappearing faster and may drive sea levels higher than predicted this century, according to leaked United Nations documents.
Greenlands ice added six times more to sea levels in the decade through 2011 than in the previous 10 years, according to a draft of the UNs most comprehensive study on climate change. Antarctica had a fivefold increase, and the UN is raising its forecast for how much the two ice sheets will add to Earths oceans by 2100.
The changes in the planets coldest areas are a very good indicator of a warming planet, according to Walt Meier, a research scientist with the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Its an early warning system, Meier said by phone from NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. When you think about a couple of degrees of warming, in the U.K. or U.S., its not something that would be too noticeable, whereas in an area of snow and ice, it can have a huge effect. With sea ice, minus 1 to plus 1 is the difference between skating on the ice and swimming in the ocean.