Antarctic Sea levels are rising faster than the global average, and some climatologists believe global warming may be to blame.
Sea levels around the southern-most continent rose faster than the global norm by one-twelfth of an inch per year, between the years 1992 and 2011. The total increase over the 19 years examined in the study was around eight inches.
Melting ice shelves and glaciers are releasing over 385 billion tons of water surrounding the continent each year. The greatest rise over the global mean are found around the Antarctic Peninsula and in the Amundsen Sea. This contribution of freshwater to the marine environment could be responsible for increasing sea levels.
"Freshwater is less dense than salt water and so in regions where an excess of freshwater has accumulated we expect a localized rise in sea level," Craig Rye from the University of Southampton, and lead author of a study announcing the results, said.
Ships measured decreasing salinity levels on waters surrounding the Antarctic, lending evidence to the theory of runoff from the continent.
Climate data collected by satellite show a rise in sea level in the Southern Ocean, as well as on the land mass of the ice-covered continent. The orbiting observatories examined data from over 386,000 square miles of the earth's surface, providing data for this study.
Winds coming in to Antarctica are not likely to be the cause of rising sea levels there, researchers report.
"We can estimate the amount of water that wind is pushing on to the continental shelf, and show with some certainty that it is very unlikely that this wind forcing is causing the sea level rise," Rye told the press.
Melting glaciers were simulated in a computer model designed by the research team. The simulations closely mirrored conditions seen in the real world. One of the challenges in creating these models is snowfall, which is leading to increased snow pack in many areas of Antarctica.
Freshwater pours in from melting ice sheets, on the landmass itself, and ice shelves, which float on the surface of the water. Models of global climate change are dependent on a careful understanding of conditions on these ice sheets. If they were to suddenly and completely melt, the rise on global sea levels would destroy many of the world's coastal cities. At the current rate of melting, researchers believe global sea levels could rise between 10 and 33 inches by the end of the century.
Study of Antarctic sea levels and the role global climate change could play in the increase was profiled in the journal Nature Geoscience.
