An international team of environmental experts maps the changes in glacier recession in the Antarctic Peninsula. The study was led by the UK Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at the University of Leeds.

According to Science Daily, the researchers gathered the measurements from five different satellites. It examined the melting speed of over 30 glaciers since 1992. Apparently, this is the first "detailed" assessment of glacier recession in the Western Palmer Land, the southwestern corner of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Meanwhile, the study questions an earlier research from the University of Bristol that said 45 cubic kilometers of ice in the area is lost annually. The findings of the University of Leeds were three times smaller.

Moreover, per an earlier University Herald report, previous climate change claims by the likes of AL Gore might be reversed sooner than later. Another analysis (Turner et al., 2016) showed that the temperature trend in Antarctica has been dropping as early as 1998. It has shifted from a warming trend of .32 degrees Celsius per decade during 1979 to 1997 to a cooling trend of -0.47 degrees Celsius during 1999 to 2014.

The Turner version indicated that the cooling has been most significant in the North and Northeast part of the Antarctic Peninsula. However, it was said to be absent in the Southwest part. Now, the University of Leeds proves that the cooling is also present in the Western Palmer Land.

Indeed, the question whether climate change is real or fake continues to be a very debatable topic. For the record, the said studies also claim that the glacier recession has already affected the Peninsula's cryosphere. Before these findings, global warming supporters noted that sea ice will continue to melt until Earth's sea levels rise.

The Leeds study revealed that the glaciers are now pouring an additional 15 cubic kilometers of ice into the ocean annually. It is significantly higher than the records in the 1990s. It eventually concluded that the degree of melting is far too small than expected.

Topics Antarctica, Global warming, Climate change, University of Bristol