Cooling Antarctica

Cooling Antarctica

A new study says Antarctica, the southernmost continent, has cooled measurably in recent years. The findings are a departure from global trends that show significant warming during the last century.

University of Chicago Professor Pete~ Doran monitors the pulse* of Antarctica. He and other researchers have plotted* climate trends in the region. They are working with data from weather stations in Antarctica's Dry Valleys, a perpetually snow-free, mountainous zone, and from stations across the continent.

Their records show a decrease by 0.7 degrees Celsius per decade in the Dry Valleys since 1986 and a similar cooling trend across the continent since 1978.

Doran said, "Antarctica is somewhat isolated because there is a big ocean current* that constantly circles around the continent and actually sort of isolates it, and that's what makes it cold. And, that may be a factor in why we are seeing Antarctica cooling is that slight disconnect from the rest of the globe, and it's not behaving in the same way."