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Warming In Antarctica: serious cause for concern

From the newswire... The Antarctic - BIOSPHERE BAROMETER SPEAKS: Warming In Antarctic: In Antarctica the ocean food chain is crashing due to the loss of ice shelves around the Antarctic peninsula caused by climate warming. The breakup of the Larsen B ice shelf in 2002 has also released several glaciers, increasing their speed eight fold, and dumping their loads into the Weddell Sea contributing to a rising sea level, according to new research. Ocean Food Chain crashing due to Antarctic Warming: Disappearing sea ice and warmer temperatures in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica are causing an 80 percent drop in the numbers of Antarctic Krill [Euphausia superba]. Krill, a small custacean which feeds on algae under ice sheets, is at the bottom of the food chain. Penguins, seals, fish, sea birds and whales are all dependent on Krill as a food source. This will also impact southern Fisheries. A new study released 3 November in the journal Nature, revealed the extent of the problem. The British Antarctic Survey said "This is the first time that we have understood the full scale of this decline, The Antarctic Peninsula, a key breeding ground for the krill, has warmed by 2.5 degrees Celsius in the last 50 years, with a striking decrease in sea-ice... The air temperature increase is about five times faster than the global mean rate. "We're already seeing some effects in certain penguin species at several sites in this area where krill are declining so much." Previously, estimates were based on local surveys so scientists had only suspected that stocks of krill were dropping. The latest figures are derived from data between 1926 to 2003 covering 40 Antarctic summers that was gathered by nine countries working in Antarctica. "We need to understand the mechanisms of these ecosystem interactions to be able to predict what is going to happen in the future. The key thing is the climatic change at the Antarctic Peninsula. It is this particular area that is warming up." Studies from climate researchers and the U.S. space agency NASA show the glaciers are flowing into Antarctica's Weddell Sea, freed by the 2002 breakup of the Larsen B ice shelf. Researchers claimed that satellite measurements suggest climate warming can lead to rapid sea level rise, and also prove that ice shelves hold back glaciers. "At every step in the process, things have occurred more rapidly than we expected." [ Read/Discuss on Perth Indy ] Sources: [ MSNBC 3 Nov 2004 ] [ ABC 4 Nov 2004 ][ ABC 23 Sept 2004 ][ The Guardian 4 Nov 2004 ] [ Greenpeace 1997 ]

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